To ask the Attorney-General what action he intends to take in order to improve facilities for immigration appeals in Leeds; and if he will make a statement.

The Lord Chancellor's Department is actively considering increasing the number of hearing rooms available at Coronet house, Leeds for hearing immigration appeals, and a survey will shortly be undertaken with a view to improving the ventilation facilities there. The Lord Chancellor's Department is also keeping under review facilities and staffing levels at all hearing centres in light of the increasing number of appeals.

To ask the Attorney-General if he will define the period of delay which is regarded as acceptable before immigration appeal hearings are heard; and if he will make a statement.

It is impractical to identify any particular period as more or less acceptable because of the widely differing nature of individual appeals, appellants and their representatives. For example, in appeals from persons abroad, their representatives in the United Kingdom may need considerable time to obtain instructions from the appellants.

To ask the Attorney-General by whom the judges who will hear the appeal of the six men convicted of the Birmingham pub bombings will be selected.

The allocation of judges to the Court of Appeal criminal division is the responsibility of the Lord Chief Justice. The allocation of individual cases to those judges is the responsibility of the registrar of criminal appeals and his staff, subject to and in accordance with any directions given by the court.

To ask the Attorney-General if he will list the number of hearing rooms, adjudicators and support staff available in order to process immigration appeals; and if he will make a statement.

The number of hearing rooms, adjudicators and support staff are being kept under constant review by the Lord Chancellor's Department in light of the rising volume of immigration appeals. In 1989, additional resources were made available to the immigration appellate authorities (IAA) which resulted in a 50 per cent. increase in the number of cases disposed of. The figures requested were as follows on 1 December 1990:

To ask the Attorney-General if he will quantify the ratio of immigration appeal personnel to immigration appeal cases on an annual basis for the last three years for which figures are available.

The information requested is set out in the table.The Birmingham Six appeals will be heard by Lord Justice Lloyd, Lord Justice Mustill and Lord Justice Farquharson.

To ask the Attorney-General if discussions have taken place between the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Lord Chief Justice regarding the management of the case of the six men convicted of the Birmingham pub bombings.

Any discussions which the Director of Public Prosecutions might have with the judiciary in his official capacity would be confidential and would not be disclosed.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received regarding policing costs for football matches.

We have received representations from the Football League, ACPO and the local authority associations as well as from right hon. and hon. Members on the terms of a proposed Home Office circular. The draft circular advises police authorities to recover as far as practicable the full cost of providing police officers inside football grounds.We are now considering the comments received.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any conveniently available figures for the number of employees of fire brigades who have left to take up positions in the middle east.

The information requested is not held centrally.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, in the light of the apparent suicide of Edwin Robinson in Brixton, he will now publish the report of Judge Tumim on Brixton prison.

We hope to do so shortly.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women are in prison for (a) theft and handling stolen goods and (b) fraud and forgery; and if he will provide a breakdown of the categories they fall into.

The latest readily available information is given in the table.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders convicted of grievous wounding have committed the same offence after serving a prison sentence for the first conviction on that offence since 1985.

Information is not available in the form requested. However, it has been estimated that of some 5,800 adult males discharged in 1986 from serving a prison sentence for a conviction of violence against the person, some 2,520 (44 per cent.) were reconvicted of a standard list offence within two years of release; for some 670 the first such conviction was for an offence of violence against the person: that is, approximately 12 per cent. of the 5,800. More information on the reconvictions of persons released from prison service establishments can be found in "Prison Statistics, England and Wales", a copy of which is in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the length of time (a) the longest serving prisoner currently on remand and (b) the longest currently serving convicted prisoner has served.

According to the records held centrally, which are approximate, the latest readily available information is as follows.The longest period a person had been held in custody on 30 September 1990 awaiting or during his trial was just over two years and seven months. The trial was completed on 1 November.On 30 September 1990 the longest continuous period spent in prison service custody under sentence by a serving prisoner was just over 38 years and two months. One other serving prisoner who had been recalled following an earlier release on life sentence licence had spent a total of almost 40 years and 10 months in prison service establishments under sentence.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his review of the arrangements for the admission to the United Kingdom of domestic servants accompanying their employer makes special reference to Kuwait; and if he will make a statement.

The conclusions of the review which were announced in another place by my noble Friend Lord Ferrers on 24 July at columns 1449–50 apply regardless of nationality to arrangements for overseas domestic servants to be admitted to the United Kingdom to continue working for an employer who comes here. Any application to enter or remain in the United Kingdom made as a result of the invasion of Kuwait will be carefully and sympathetically considered.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the timetable for a scheme to use locally manufactured refuse-derived fuel for a combined heat and power scheme for Isle of Wight prison complexes at Camphill, Albany and Parkhurst; and if he will make it his policy to promote the rapid conclusion of such a scheme.

I understand that the Isle of Wight council is in negotiation with one of the electricity supply companies to construct a power station on the island capable of consuming the total output of refuse-derived fuels produced on the island.The Home Office study into using such fuel for its prisons on the island has therefore been suspended.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his Department's policy on promoting the use of recycled materials and renewable energies where relevant to his Department's activities.

The Department is investigating the use of refuse-derived fuel (RDF). At the present time one prison is utilising RDF as a replacement for coal on a long-term trial and three other prisons are being looked at to see if they are suitable to undertake similar trials.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is proposing to take to ensure that the prison service reaps the maximum financial and environmental benefits from combined heat and power schemes and that such schemes are given priority.

The Department is currently appraising combined heat and power schemes but no decisions have yet been taken to install them in any of our establishments.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the projects and centres to which his Department has contributed financially in respect of research into alcohol misuse, with the figure for each such project or centre in the present financial year.

During the past three years the Home Office has commissioned or carried out the following projects:

A survey of drinking in England and Wales, conducted by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys;

The Newport alcohol abuse and social disorder demonstration project;

An evaluation of the effects of experimental byelaws to control public drinking in the central parts of various towns and cities, conducted by the Home Office crime prevention unit;

An assessment of the role of economic models in understanding the links between alcohol and crime, conducted by the university of York centre for health economics; and

A study of drinking and disorder in non-metropolitan areas, carried out by the Home Office research and planning unit.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his policy towards the use of data for computer matching to create personal computer profiles for commercial and mailing purposes.

We will carefully consider any recommendation the Data Protection Registrar may make when his consideration of the issue of computer matching is complete.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any proposals to increase the funding of the office of the Data Protection Registrar; and if he will make a statement.

We have agreed a 1991–92 increase of 8·6 per cent. in cash terms on the previous year. Funding will continue to be determined in the light of expenditure bids and overall public spending constraints.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement concerning the retention of data concerning acquittals on police computer records.

The recording of data on police force computers is a matter for individual chief officers. They are guided by the code of practice for police computer systems which has been prepared by the Association of Chief Police Officers. A copy of the code is in the Library. Prosecution information is not retained on the police national computer in the event of an acquittal.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if there are any United Kingdom Government or European Community proposals to extend data protection legislation to manual files; and if he will make a statement.

The Government have no present plans to extend data protection legislation to manual files. The draft directive on data protection, issued by the Commission of the European Communities on 13 September, covers structured collections of manual data. Negotiations on the draft are expected to start next year.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions were initiated by the Data Protection Registrar in (a) 1987, (b) 1938, (c) 1989 and (d) 1990 to date; and if he will make a statement.

The figures, collected by reference to the time when cases were brought to court, are as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has made within the European Community concerning the issuing of a directive on data protection; and if he will make a statement.

None as yet. The Government are consulting United Kingdom organisations with an interest in data protection and will take their views into account in negotiations on the draft directive. We expect these to start next year.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any proposals for the reform of the law affecting charities; and if he will make a statement.

The Government's proposals are set out in the White Paper, "Charities: A Framework for the Future", which was presented to Parliament on 16 May 1989.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many personal advisers Ministers of his Department have; if he will list them by name, showing the date of appointment, salary bands and areas of responsibility; and if he will make a statement.

One special adviser, Mr. Tony Kerpel, is employed in the Home Office. He was appointed with effect from 3 December 1990. He will provide advice on a wide range of Home Office subjects.It is not the practice to disclose the salaries of individual advisers as they are negotiated individually in relation to previous outside earnings and are therefore confidential.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what action he is taking following the criticism of the prison authorities made by Mr. Justice Potts in connection with the murder in Durham prison of 19-year-old Darren Brook; and whether such action will seek to establish responsibility for what happened and seek to prevent its recurrence;(2) if he will call for a report on the circumstances in which Darren Brook was confined in a cell at Durham prison with a long-term prisoner, having been sentenced to a period of custody in a young offenders' institution; and if he will make a statement.

A full investigation was carried out into the circumstances of Mr. Brook's tragic death as a matter of urgency by the governor at Durham prison in January of this year. This led to the implementation of revised and improved procedures on the young offender wing. The trial judge, Mr. Justice Potts, has expressed satisfaction at the steps taken at the prison to avoid a similar occurrence and I am similarly satisfied. A fellow young offender has recently been convicted of Mr. Brook's murder.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the analysis of returns from justices' clerks regarding the number of poll tax liability orders made by magistrates courts is now available; and if he will make a statement.

The analysis of returns from justices' clerks is not complete but responses are available from 89 per cent. of justices' clerks. These show that by the end of September liability orders had been made against 344,307 people. We will continue to monitor the situation.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the ministerial and departmental visits made overseas in 1990 in connection with the promotion of the changes in the rights of overseas electors; what, in each case, was the cost to public funds; and if he will make a statement.

Neither Home Office Ministers nor officials made visits overseas as part of the publicity arrangements for the extension of the overseas franchise under the Representation of the People Act 1989.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report on the location of exhibits requested by Paul Malone, a constituent of Liverpool, Broadgreen, to allow him to proceed with action against certain police officers and on the reasons why they have not been released to him; and if he will make a statement.

I understand that Mr. Malone has recently obtained summonses against three officers of the Cheshire constabulary. The supply of police documents to the courts is a matter for the chief officer of police.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what sums have been paid by each airline consequent upon the Immigration (Carriers' Liabilities) Act 1987 and by way of penalty for carrying non-visa holders from visa countries.

It is not the practice to disclose information on the record of individual airlines under the Act. The total amount incurred by all carriers (that is, airlines and sea operators) to mid-November 1990 was £22·792 million, of which £8·135 million had been paid; liabilities had been waived in respect of £1·142 million, leaving £13·515 million outstanding.Separate information on the payments relating to the carriage of visa nationals without valid visas is not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has any plans to limit the number and intensity of permitted red lights in car rear windows.

I have no plans to limit the number of red lights that may be fitted at the rear of cars or to introduce additional limits for intensity except that additional stop lamps fitted in rear windows on new cars sold after 1 April 1991 will be limited to half the intensity of standard stop lamps.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what effective measures are available to promote the use of buses, as referred to in the White Paper "This Common Inheritance"; and if he will make a statement.

A variety of traffic management measures including with flow and contra-flow bus lanes, priority at traffic signals, exemptions from prohibited turns, bus stop clearways, and other types of waiting and loading restrictions are available to give buses an advantage over other traffic.My Department is examining current practice with a view to issuing further guidance for the benefit of local authorities, bus operators, and enforcement agencies.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what level of grant aid or subsidy was provided to rail freight for each year between 1979 and 1989.

British Rail's freight business has a commercial remit, and has received no Government grant aid or subsidy in these years apart from its share of level crossings grant under EC regulation 1192/69. Other bodies can receive grants towards the cost of rail freight facilities under section 8 of the Railways Act 1974 if a switch from road freight to rail produces worthwhile environmental benefits at a reasonable cost. Since 1979 the Government have awarded 136 section 8 grants totalling £53 million, removing over 25 million tonnes of freight a year from the roads.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what guidance is given by his Department to local authorities in assessing the need to construct bypasses;(2) what provision he has made in the estimate of spending need for the next financial year of the Cheshire county council for capital expenditure upon road construction; what is the comparable figure in real and cash terms for the current financial year; and what consideration he gave in setting these figures to the need to construct the Wheelock bypass.

Transport supplementary grant and credit approvals for capital expenditure on local roads are allocated in the light of information presented in the annual transport policies and programme submissions from the 108 local highway authorities in England. The allocations for 1991–92 will be announced shortly.Cheshire county council's latest submission shows that the main works on the Wheelock bypass are not due to start until 1993–94 and that the authority plans to spend only £55,000 on its design and other preliminary expenses in 1991–92.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what action he is considering to penalise the promotion of motor car manufacture and sales based on power, speed and acceleration as against efficiency, safety and fuel economy; and if he will make a statement.

I have discussed with repesentatives of the Advertising Standards Authority how to encourage car manufacturers to place less emphasis on speed in their advertising. The Advertising Standards Authority has recently required the withdrawal of several advertise-ments.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what reduction of carbon dioxide emissions is achieved by the use of lead-free petrol when measured against leaded petrol; and if he will quantify this reduction per annum.

Using unleaded rather than leaded fuel results in a small reduction of fuel efficiency and therefore increased emissions of carbon dioxide. The use of unleaded fuel helps to reduce emissions of lead from vehicles into the air and is essential to the operation of catalytic converters which reduce emissions of other pollutants. The Government will continue to promote the widespread use of unleaded fuel which now accounts for almost 40 per cent. of petrol sales.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what would be the resultant reduction in pollutants emitted by car exhausts if a zero growth in domestic vehicles was achieved against projections of growth in these vehicles over the next decade.

Total emissions depend on the amount of traffic and the rate of emissions per vehicle. Assuming that three-way catalysts are fitted to new cars from the end of 1992, and taking the mid-point between the Department's high and low traffic demand growth forecasts, emissions of carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and hydrocarbons from cars are expected to decline by over half between 1991 and 2000.If the average fuel efficiency of cars remains constant over the same period and the same mid-point traffic demand forecast is used, we would expect carbon dioxide emissions from cars to grow by about 30 per cent. However, there is considerable scope for fuel efficiency improvement in this sector and it is not possible at this stage to make any useful estimate of what the actual change in carbon dioxide emissions might be.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects a decision to be taken on Essex county council's highway committee's application of October 1988 to extend the 30 mph and 40 mph speed limit zones in Danbury; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 7 December 1990]: A decision in principle will be sent to Essex county council before the end of this month.Subject to the completion of the necessary statutory procedures, the Secretary of State could confirm an order early in 1991.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the projects and centres to which his Department has contributed financially in respect of research into alcohol misuse, with the figure for each such project or centre in the present financial year.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave him on Wednesday 5 December 1990, c. 150.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish any circulars and draft guidance issued by his Department in pursuance of the announcement by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary at his Department on Drinkwise day of finance for projects to tackle alcohol abuse.

The relevant circulars, WHC(90)78 and WHC(90)79, were issued on 5 December 1990. Copies of these are in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what targets he expects to be met as a result of the provision for alcohol abuse, as announced by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary at his Department on Drinkwise day.

Short-term targets will be sent when allocations are made, taking into account what health and local authorities consider can be achieved by their proposed projects. These will contribute towards

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with the chairmen of the health authorities on the computation of appropriate charges for cross-border flows of patients for hospital treatment (a) inside and outside Wales and (b) across health authority boundaries within Wales.

None. National health service service providers both inside and outside Wales will be expected to price their services on the basis of what it costs to provide them; and charges will accordingly vary as between providers. Information systems are being improved to facilitate more accurate and detailed costing of services in the future.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the reasons for the delay in paying the second instalment of the ewe premium scheme to Welsh sheep producers; and if he will make a statement.

The second advance payment has, in fact, been brought forward and has already been issued to

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the number of disabled people employed in his Department; and what is the target quota.

My Department employs 29 people who are registered disabled; they represent 1·3 per cent. of all staff. The target quota is 3 per cent.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what numbers and what percentages of full-time students over the age of 16 years in each county in Wales are studying in (a) further education and tertiary colleges and (b) maintained 11 to 18 years schools.

The information for 1989–90 is as follows:95 per cent. of the 17,700 claimants. The first and second advances together will have benefited farmers' cash flow by around £25 million.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his oral answer of 3 December, Official Report, columns 4–5, if he will place a copy of the staff inspection report into the national library of Wales, Aberystwyth in the Library.

It is not the Department's practice to place copies of staff inspection reports in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with the chairman of the South Glamorgan health authority regarding the level of baseline budget for the next financial year.

My right hon. Friend has had no such discussions to date; but he will be meeting the chairmen of all district health authorities in Wales early in the new year to discuss allocations for 1991–92.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the areas of unused or underused land in Glamorgan; and in respect of what proportion of that land there are no firm proposals for development.

This information is not available. However, land registers have been published, and are available for inspection at both the Department's Cardiff office and each district authority's main office, showing unused or underused land held by the public sector in the districts of Cardiff, Lliw Valley, Ogwr, Rhymney Valley, Swansea, Taff Ely, and the Vale of Glamorgan.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he has any plans for the future of the programme for the valleys; and whether he will make a statement.

I have announced my intentions for the future of the programme for the valleys today. They are set out in the documents "The Valleys: Partnership with the People". I have sent a copy to each right hon. and hon. Member whose constituency falls within the valleys programme area and have also placed copies in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish in the Official Report a list of all authorised gipsy sites in Wales, indicating when they were established, together with the ordnance survey grid reference number for each site.

The information requested is given in the following table.

To ask the right hon. Member for Selby, representing the Church Commissioners, what discussions he has had with British representatives of organisations working with Sudanese Christian refugees as to possible financial assistance for their work; and if he will make a statement.

None, because the Commissioners' funds are not by law available for such purposes. The primary duty of the Commissioners is the support of the full-time parochial ministry of the Church of England, in service and retire-ment, and the bulk of their income is used for that purpose.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what increase in gross domestic product, real disposable incomes and consumer expenditure in each of the years 1985 to 1990 would have been compatible in terms of the Treasury economic model with a continuing balance of payments surplus on current account; and if he will publish in the Official Report a table using the data in the Treasury model to compare the actual with the required outcome in terms of interest rates, employment, unemployment, manufacturing output and house prices.

It has not, since 1978, been the practice to run particular simulations on the Treasury model to meet specific outside requests; but the hon. Member will be aware that the current version of the model is available for Members' use through the Library.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what information he has concerning the percentage of gross income accounted for by the community charge at different levels of gross income.

Community charges vary widely according to the area in which households happen to live; their entitlement to transitional relief; and their entitlement to community charge benefit. Information on the relationship between these net payments and gross income will be available in due course from sample surveys such as the 1990 family expenditure survey.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the economic consequences of a military option in the Gulf.

[holding answer 29 November 1990]: The Government's firm objective is to resolve the Gulf crisis by peaceful means on the basis of full implementation of the resolutions adopted by the United Nations Security Council. To achieve this, it is essential to establish a credible military option, so that Saddam Hussein is left in no doubt that he is facing a military force which could compel him to leave Kuwait. My right hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Major) drew attention in his autumn statement to uncertainties in the economic outlook generated by the Gulf crisis.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the increase in imports of manufactures since 1973 originated in other EEC countries; whether he expects the figure to increase or decrease as a result of (i) the Single European Act and (ii) full membership of the EMS; and what is the latest figure for import penetration for the EEC.

To ask the Minister for the Arts what assessment he has made of the effect on scientific research in the United Kingdom of financial decisions imposed on the British library, including the cut in scientific journals.

It is for the British library board to decide on the allocation of its resources, taking into account the needs of its clients. The library is arranging alternative access where possible to the scientific journals and hopes to reinstate them in 1992. Most of them will continue to be taken by the library's document supply centre. The grant in aid for 1991–92 will be £63·79 million, an increase of 10 per cent. over the current year.

A total of 57 per cent. of the increase in the value of imports of manufactures between 1973 and 1989 originated from the EC. The EC's share in the United Kingdom's total trade, both exports and imports, can be expected to rise as a result of the Single European Act and full membership of the EMS. Figures for import penetration in each of the EC countries can be obtained from the latest issue of "International Financial Statistics", published by the International Monetary Fund.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for each year since 1970 and for the latest quarter, in index form based on 1985, the volume of exports of manufactures from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the United States of America and Japan.

I have been asked to reply.The information is in the table.

To ask the Minister for the Arts what information he has on the level of deficits in performing arts companies.

[holding answer 5 December 1990]: I am advised by the funding bodies that in total the accumulated forecast deficits at the end of this financial year for performing arts companies, including theatre companies, in Britain will be approximately £20·8 million. There are wide variations in the financial circumstances of the companies, both national and regional, within this total.

To ask the Minister for the Arts what information he has on (a) national and (b) regional theatre companies in deficit.

[holding answer 5 December 1990]: I understand that in total the accumulated forecast deficits at the end of the current financial year for the two national theatre companies are just over £3 million. The figure for other Arts Council-funded theatre companies is approximately £3·5 million, and the figure for theatre companies funded by the Scottish and Welsh Arts Councils and the regional arts associations is approximately £2·5 million. There are wide variations in the financial circumstances of individual companies, both national and regional, within these estimates.

To ask the Prime Minister if he has any plans to dismantle the gates at the end of Downing street.

I have nothing further to add to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Walsall, North (Mr. Winnick) on 6 December at column 166.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will now take steps to achieve the integration of fiscal and environmental policy.

We already seek to ensure that all the environmental implications of policy decisions under discussion are considered before conclusions are reached. My right hon. Friend has nominated the Minister of State, Treasury the Minister responsible for considering the environmental implications of policies.

To ask the Prime Minister how he intends to ensure parliamentary accountability of the new ministerial committee on the environment.

Cabinet Committees are internal mechanisms for co-ordinating policy within Government. They do not affect ministerial accountability to Parliament.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will establish a review of the hours at which the House sits and the dates of the summer recess.

I have nothing to add to the reply I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Sir R. McCrindle) on 6 December at column 452.

To ask the Prime Minister which Minister is responsible for answering for the actions of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee; and if he will publish a table showing the resource allocations to England, Scotland and Wales and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee for 1991–92 as compared with the recommendations in the Inbucon report.

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee is a committee of all three country councils each of which is answerable to its own territorial Secretary of State for all its functions, including those exercised through the JNCC. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment would normally expect to take the lead in answering any questions about the committee.The predecessor of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment announced on 9 November that the grant in aid to the Nature Conservancy Council for England (NCCE) in 1991–92 had been set provisionally at £32·411 million. Announcements about the grant in aid to be provided to the new agencies in Scotland and Wales will be made shortly by my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and for Wales respectively.The Inbucon report was commissioned by the Nature Conservancy Council to assist it in preparing its proposed forward plans. It was made available on request by the council in October. The figures contained in the report are therefore already available for examination.

To ask the Prime Minister how many unused or disused civilian or military hospitals in the United Kingdom are owned or run by foreign Governments or armies; and if he will make a statement.

Details of civilian hospitals owned or run by foreign Governments are not available.United States forces have contingency hospitals at RAF Chessington, RAF Little Rissington, RAF Nocton Hall and RAF Bicester. These are laid out as hospitals, but supplies and staff have to be brought in to activate them at a time of crisis.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he plans to hold a public inquiry into the ownership of the common land known as the village green at Brick Back, Bromley Cross, Bolton; what representations he has received about this land; and if he will make a statement.

The ownership of the land at Brick Back, which has been registered as village green, has been referred to a commons commissioner, in accordance with section 8 of the Commons Registration Act 1965. A commissioner will hear evidence on ownership at a hearing to be held on 12 February 1991 at Bolton town hall. To date a number of representations have been received from Bromley Cross residents, four of whom claim to have knowledge of the ownership of the land.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the percentage of persons subject to the community charge who are exempted on the basis of category C9: residential care workers who are employed at a very low salary for each local authority in England.

From the returns received by the Department, the table gives the information requested for those authorities which reported 20 or more persons in the category of exemptions on 1 June 1990. The average proportion for England as a whole is ·004 per cent.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he is taking to protect community charge payers from cuts in local authority services due to community charge limitations; and if he will make a statement.

The action we have taken, and shall not hesitate to take again, is to protect charge payers from authorities' excessive budgets.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will undertake a review of the level of aggregate external finance being made available to local authorities in 1991–92;(2) if he will undertake a review of the level of revenue support grant being made available to local authorities in 1991–92;(3) when he intends to bring before the House the final reports of the local authority finance settlement for 1991–92;(4) if he will undertake a review of the phased withdrawal of the area protection grant from local authorities in 1991–92 and 1992–93; and if he will make a statement.

Formal consultation on our proposals for the local government finance settlement ended on 28 November. My right hon. Friend is now considering the representations made. He expects to lay the settlement reports before the House soon.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are his best estimates of the size of the average poll tax bill in 1991–92.

My right hon. Friend has made no estimate of the average level of community charges in 1991–92, which depends upon the decisions of the local authorities. If authorities spent in line with their standard spending assessments, the average community charge should be close to £380.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) when he expects to conclude his review of the poll tax;(2) if he has any plans to undertake a fundamental review of the poll tax transitional relief scheme for its operation in 1991–92;

My right hon. Friend announced on 5 December that we shall be conducting a fundamental review of local government finance and structure.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to undertake a review of the existing restrictions on the use of capital receipts by local authorities for 1991–92.

We are already consulting on changes which we consider to be necessary for 1991–92. The local authority associations have recently submitted a paper setting out their proposals and this will be considered carefully.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people serving in Her Majesty's forces have appealed against their being included on the community charge register; and if he will make a statement.

The information requested is not available centrally.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will undertake a review of his proposed poll tax-capping rules for 1991–92; and if he will make a statement.

As I told the House on 3 December, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I stick firmly by the intended criteria announced by my right hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Mr. Patten) on 31 October.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing for each local authority his proposed basic credit approval for 1991–92.

Basic credit approvals for individual local authorities for 1991–92 will be announced in due course. I will arrange for a copy of this information to be placed in the Library of the House of Commons when it is available.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he intends to review his proposed standard spending assessments for local authorities for 1991–92.

We are considering the representations made in response to our proposals for 1991–92 as set out in the statement on 31 October. We will announce our decisions shortly.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all working papers, implementation documents, departmental circulars and other publications, regulations and notices, in draft or final form, that have been issued in 1990 arising from the implementation of the poll tax.

[holding answer 7 December 1990]: My Department has issued the following regulations, practice notes and consultation documents on the community charge and the national non-domestic rating system in 1990.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will undertake a review of his estimates of poll tax collection rates for 1990–91 and the likely impact on poll tax bills in 1991–92;(2) what are his best estimates of the amount of poll tax income that will prove impossible to collect by the end of the current financial year.

When local authorities come to set community charges for 1991–92 they will make proper estimates of the likely level of collection for that year and of how much uncollected in 1990–91 will prove to be uncollectable and should be written off. Such estimates are not for me to make.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give (a) the cost, (b) the amount of staff time in hours and (c) the number of meetings of the commission and the attendance at each devoted by the Local Government Boundary Commission to (i) the interim report and (ii) the draft proposal in its further review of the county of Humberside and list the changes occurring in the commission and its staff between the two.

In the period between the publication of its interim report and its draft proposals, two new members were appointed to fill vacancies on the commission, and eight staff out of a total of 35 at all grades were changed. It is not possible to identify the cost of any particular element of the commission's work.The other questions concerning the conduct of its work are for the commission.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what meetings or discussions occurred between (a) himself or his predecessors, (b) other Ministers in his Department and (c) officials of the Local Government Boundary Commission on its review of county Humberside between 7 March and 27 November.

None, though the chairman of the commission meets Ministers from time to time to discuss matters of general interest.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will refer back to the local authority boundary commission the further review of the county of Humberside, for reconsideration by a commission with changes in composition from that which considered the further review.

No.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what plans his Department has for consulting with non-governmental development organisations in the preparatory process for the United Nations conference on environment and development to be held in Brazil in 1992;(2) what plans his Department has for holding national consultations in preparation for the United Nations conference on environment and development in 1992.

My Department has commissioned the International Institute for Environment and Development, on behalf of the United Kingdom committee for UNEP, to hold a series of public meetings to examine the main issues of the 1992 United Nations conference. This will be an important opportunity for the non-governmental community, including development organisations, to contribute to the preparatory process for the conference. In addition, we will welcome submissions from interested individuals or organisations who may wish to put forward their views directly to the Government.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his reply of 22 November, Official Report, columns 188–89, to the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies), what further consideration Her Majesty's Government are giving to the issues raised by peat extraction and nature conservation.

The noble Lord Reay's response to the debate on peatland issues, which took place in another place on 9 May 1990, indicated the issues which should be addressed and how they were to be carried forward. Work on these is progressing both in my Department and elsewhere, but is not yet completed. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State hopes to be able to make a statement about the issues raised by peat extraction and nature conservation in due course.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what response he intends to make to the criticisms contained in the Nature Conservancy Council report published on 28 November about the reorganisation of the Nature Conservancy Council.

None. These issues were fully dealt with during the debates in both Houses on part VII of the Environmental Protection Act.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he will take to ensure that Britain's ecology continues to be treated as a continuum, following the break-up of the Nature Conservancy Council.

Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, ecological issues affecting Great Britain as a whole will fall within the remit of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee of the three new country councils.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will undertake a review of the resources devoted by his Department to developing and maintaining standards of ecological understanding among its officials.

My right hon. Friend has access to a wide range of expertise within his Department, including knowledge of ecological matters. Training needs are regularly monitored, and there is no need for a specific review in this area.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is Her Majesty's Government's policy with regard to the proposal by Senor Enrico Ferri, MEP, in his report to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Citizens Rights (PE 143.353/fin, 5 November 1990), that provisions for liability for impairment to the environment caused by radioactive waste be included in the EC directive on civil liability caused by waste (COM(89) 282 final-C3–0154/89-SYN 217).

The Government are considering their position on the draft directive, and will be consulting widely.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) in how many cases in the last five years sufficient damage has been inflicted upon sites of special scientific interest to render designation meaningless;(2) how many sites of special scientific interest have been damaged by statutory organisations during the last five years; and in how many of these cases either official permission was given or official approval was signified.

The information is not available in the form requested. Since 1 April 1984 information on the numbers of SSSIs damaged is set out in the Nature Conservancy Council's annual reports, copies of which are in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the number of sites of special scientific interest which have been damaged or destroyed during the last three years; and what is his estimate of the area affected by this damage or destruction.

The information requested is as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of whether the present level of protection is sufficient to safeguard the 900 sites which are assessed to be of key importance in their conservation interest; and what action he is taking to provide the necessary protection.

I am satisfied that the SSSI and the national nature reserve systems afford the protection necessary to these sites.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he is taking to reduce the damage or destruction of sites of special scientific interest.

We are always ready to consider with the NCC and others practicable action to minimise damage to SSSIs. The NCC is encouraged to take all steps necessary to minimise damage, including the entering into of management agreements and in appropriate circumstances by requesting that the Secretary of State make a nature conservation order.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if his Department has received an invitation to participate in the conference on environmental protection in practice, organised by International Business Communications, to be held in London on 10 to 11 December.

Yes. Dr. Martin Bigg, head of the local authority unit of Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution, will be addressing the conference on the subject of pollution regulation.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if his Department has received an invitation to contribute to the conference on liquid effluent control to be held at Loughborough university of technology on 17 to 19 December.

Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution (HMIP) was invited by the department of chemical engineering at Loughborough university to contribute to the conference on liquid effluent control on 17 to 19 December 1990. HMIP was unable to accept the invitation on this occasion due to other commitments.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much annual central Government expenditure was dedicated to domestic insulation projects for the years 1979 to 1990.

Expenditure on central Government domestic energy efficiency programmes is set out in the table.