Written Answers

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Written Answers To Questions

Wednesday 17 March 1993

National Heritage

Fire Precautions

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will make a statement on the powers of the London Fire Brigade to inspect (a) the Tower of London, (b) Hampton Court and (c) Buckingham palace; when was the last inspection in each case; and if copies of each such inspection will be placed in the Library.

As these are Crown properties, the London Fire Brigade has no power to inspect them. The properties are nevertheless required to comply with the provisions of the Fire Precautions Act 1971, with certification as appropriate by the Home Office fire service inspectorate.The management of each of these properties consults the London Fire Brigade on specific issues. The fire brigade undertakes joint exercises in each property and makes familiarisation visits several times a year.

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what action he has taken this year to safeguard visitors to the White Tower at the Tower of London and to maximise precautions against fire.

Following the fire at Windsor in November, I set up an inquiry under Sir Alan Bailey to review fire precautions in the royal palaces, including the Tower of London.I have asked the Master of the Armouries to write to the hon. Member about measures specific to the White Tower, for which the Royal Armouries has responsibility.

To ask the Secretary of Stale for National Heritage what action he has taken since April 1992 to examine fire precautions and the safety of visitors at Hampton Court palace.

Following the fire at Windsor in November, I set up an inquiry under Sir Alan Bailey to review fire precautions in the royal palaces, including Hampton. Court palace.I have asked the chief executive of the Historic Royal Palaces Agency to write to the hon. Member about measures specific to Hampton Court palace, for which the agency has responsibility.

Television Licences

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many prosecutions took place in Pendle for television licence evasion for the latest year for which figures are available.

Separate statistics for Pendle, which falls within the area administered by the Preston TV licensing inquiry office are not available. In 1992, there were 6,238 prosecutions for television licence evasion in the Preston TVLEO area.

Concessionary Television Licences

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what guidance was issued to local authorities and others about the change in entitlement to concessionary television licences; when the guidance was issued; and if he will place a copy of such guidance in the Library.

No guidance was issued to local authorities at the time about the effect of the Wireless Telegraphy (Broadcast Licence Charges and Exemption) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 1988. But the changes to the concessionary television licence scheme which these regulations introduced were explained to the House by the then Home Secretary on 18 May 1988 and a press release was issued on the same day by the Home Office.

Museums (Security Vetting)

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will estimate the costs of security vetting (a) one museums support grade member of staff and (b) one member of staff employed by a contract security firm; and what ongoing non-security costs are borne in relation to the latter.

The security arrangements at the National Museums and Galleries are the responsibility of the trustees, who have a statutory responsibility for managing their particular institution. They may consult the security advisor at the Museums and Galleries Commission.

Television Programmes

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what action he is taking within the institutions of the European Community and the Council of Europe to prevent the transmission of violent or pornographic television programmes into British homes.

We are exploring with the European Commission the scope for United Kingdom action under the EC broadcasting directive (89/552/EEC) against pornographic satellite channels based in another EC member state. No action is possible under the Council of Europe convention on transfrontier television as it is not yet in force. The convention, which the United Kingdom and seven other states have ratified, will come into force on 1 May 1993.

Departmental Spending

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what percentage share of total departmental spending was accounted for by non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1979.

The information requested is shown in the table. Figures for the years prior to 1987–88 are not available.

	Per cent.
1987–88	87·88
1988–89	85·36
1989–90	88·02

	Per cent.
1990–91	89·65
1991–92	89·40
1992–93	82·86
1993–94	81·55

Local Authority Services

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for South Hams (Mr. Steen) on 10 November 1992, Official Report, columns 687–89, if he will include Scottish local authorities in the examination of local provision of arts, theatres and library facilities which is being carried out by a firm of consultants; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 16 March 1993]: On libraries, the Scottish Office will be involved with the work of the steering committee overseeing the exercise. Whether any Scottish local authorities will be among the pilot projects themselves has yet to be determined. The possibility that Scottish local authorities might be included with English ones in a single consultancy study of local authority management of arts facilities is under consideration.

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for South Hams (Mr. Steen) of 10 November 1992, Official Report columns 687–89, if he will make a further statement concerning (a) the remit of the consultants who are to examine the local authority provision of library services, arts and theatre facilities, (b) the choice of consultants, (c) the expected cost of the investigation and (d) when he expects to receive the final report from the said consultants.

[holding answer 16 March 1993]: The steering committee which will oversee the pilot projects on libraries will begin work soon. One of its first tasks will be to decide the remit of any associated consultancy work and a procedure for appointment.Broadly, the remit for the consultants who will be undertaking the study of local authority arts facilities will be to make recommendations on how efficiency in this area of local authority management might best be improved through the introduction of increased competition. I expect to make further announcements in due course concerning both libraries and arts facilities; these will also cover the costs and timetables for consultancy work involved.

National Finance

Bcci

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had concerning the content of the second report of the Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee, Session 1992–93, on "Banking Supervision and BCCI: The Implications of the Bingham Report".

My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has discussed the report with colleagues and officials. I have also met the hon. Member and a delegation of BCCI depositors.

Insider Dealing

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received from the City Group of Smaller Companies in respect of changes to insider dealing in the Criminal Justice Bill [Lords]; what reply he has sent; what action he will be taking; and if he will make a statement.

The City Group of Smaller Companies has written to the Treasury setting out some suggested amendments to the proposed insider dealing legislation contained in the Criminal Justice Bill. Representatives of the group met Treasury officials on 15 March to discuss the suggestions in greater detail.The Government are grateful for the representations made by the group and will give them careful consideration in readiness for the Criminal Justice Bill's remaining parliamentary stages.

Trade Gap

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on how Government policies are promoting the closing of the United Kingdom's trade gap.

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 17 February 1993, Official Report, column 210.

Motor Cars

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his assessment of the implications of the Budget statement for the United Kingdom motor car industry.

The Budget will benefit industry, including the motor industry, by ensuring that the recovery is sustainable. The motor industry is already playing an important part in the recovery and has benefited significantly from the abolition of car tax. Yesterday's Budget completed the switch in taxation from car purchase to car use which the Chancellor announced in his autumn statement.Yesterday's Budget also included two proposals of particular importance to the motor industry: a clear indication of the Government's intentions on fuel taxation and a new structure for the taxation of company cars from April 1994. Both changes will provide the industry with a stable background against which to plan future investment.

Imf

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the progress of the International Monetary Fund's visit to Brazil to discuss a new accord.

[holding answer 16 March 1993]: It is not for a United Kingdom Minister to comment on the status of negotiations between fund staff and third countries.

Companies

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the United Kingdom's gross domestic product is generated by (a) publicly quoted companies and (b) private companies.

[holding answer 16 March 1993]: The latest estimate of the proportion of the United Kingdom's gross domestic product that is generated by companies is for 1991, when it was 53·7 per cent. A split between publicly quoted and private companies is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mortgage Tax Relief

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will provide a table showing the number of recipients of higher rate mortgage interest tax relief for each year since 1979–80 in the United Kingdom by region;(2) if he will provide a table showing the number of recipients of mortgage interest tax relief for each year since 1979–80 in the United Kingdom by region;(3) what was the total value of providing higher rate mortgage interest tax relief for each year since 1979–80 in the United Kingdom by region

(a) at current prices and (b) at 1979–80 prices;

(4) pursuant to his answer of 17 June 1992, Official Report, columns 537–38, to the hon. Member for Angus, East (Mr. Welsh), if he will (a) update the table with the

Cost of mortgage interest relief¹
£ million
	1979–80	1980–81	1981–82	1982–83	1983–84	1984–85	1985–86	1986–87	1987–88	1988–89	1989–90	1990–91	1991–92^{2 3}	1992–93²
Northern	60	80	70	95	100	140	180	200	210	250	310	350	310	230
Yorkshire	110	155	150	160	210	260	340	350	360	370	460	510	450	340
North West	135	200	180	215	260	330	440	490	510	530	690	770	640	500
East Midlands	85	115	110	130	180	230	300	320	330	340	430	480	410	340
West Midlands	145	160	190	170	230	280	370	350	360	430	550	620	510	400
East Anglia	45	50	60	75	90	130	170	170	180	220	270	300	250	180
Greater London	235	280	290	260	400	500	670	620	650	780	980	1,100	710	740
Other South East	375	555	600	650	740	950	1,270	1,220	1,260	1,350	1,750	1,940	1,510	1,390
South West	110	140	170	140	230	300	400	380	400	520	660	730	570	480
England	1,300	1,735	1,820	1,900	2,440	3,120	4,140	4,100	4,260	4,790	6,100	6,800	5,360	4,600
Wales	45	65	80	80	110	150	200	210	220	180	240	270	230	190
Scotland	85	125	120	140	190	260	350	300	310	370	470	530	420	340
Northern Ireland	20	35	30	30	40	50	60	60	60	60	90	100	90	70
United Kingdom	1,450	1,960	2,050	2,150	2,780	3,580	4,750	4,670	4,850	5,400	6,900	7,700	6,100	5,200
¹Excludes option mortgage scheme (1979–80 to 1983–84).
²Provisional.
³Higher rate relief was abolished in 1991–92.

Cost of mortgage interest relief at 1979–80 prices¹
£ million
	1979–80	1980–81	1981–82	1982–83	1983–84	1984–85	1985–86	1986–87	1987–88	1988–89	1989–90	1990–91	1991–92^{2 3}	1992–93²
Northern	60	70	50	60	60	70	100	110	110	120	150	150	120	90
Yorkshire	110	130	110	110	130	140	200	190	190	190	220	220	180	130
North West	135	170	130	140	160	180	250	260	260	270	320	340	260	190
East Midlands	85	100	80	90	110	120	170	170	170	170	200	210	160	130
West Midlands	145	140	140	110	140	150	210	190	190	220	260	270	200	150
East Anglia	45	40	40	50	60	70	100	90	90	110	130	130	100	70
Greater London	235	240	220	170	250	270	380	340	340	390	460	480	280	280
Other South East	375	470	450	430	470	510	720	660	660	680	820	850	600	530
South West	110	120	130	100	150	160	230	210	210	260	310	320	230	190
England	1,300	1,480	1,350	1,260	1,530	1,670	2,360	2,220	2,220	2,410	2,870	2,970	2,130	1,760
Wales	45	60	60	50	70	80	110	120	120	90	110	120	90	70
Scotland	85	110	90	90	120	140	200	160	160	180	220	230	170	130
Northern Ireland	20	30	20	20	20	20	40	30	30	30	40	40	40	30
United Kingdom	1,450	1,680	1,520	1,420	1,740	1,910	2,710	2,530	2,530	2,710	3,240	3,360	2,430	1,990
¹Excludes option mortgage scheme (1979–80 to 1983–94).
²Provisional.
³Higher rate relief was abolished in 1991–92.

latest information he has available on mortgage interest tax relief and (b) provide the information at both 1979–80 prices and cash prices.

[pursuant to his answer, 25 February 1993, c. 686–88]: I regret that three figures in the first two tables were printed incorrectly. For completeness the corrected answer is restated in full as follows:Information for the total of mortgage interest relief is in the tables. The regional distributions for 1979–80 to 1982–83 have been derived from the relevant surveys of personal incomes. However, following the introduction, of mortgage interest relief at source in April 1983, regional information cannot be extracted from Inland Revenue records. Broad estimates for the years 1983–84 to 1991–92 have accordingly been based on analyses of the family expenditure surveys for the years concerned.Reliable estimates of the value of and the number of recipients of higher rate mortgage interest tax relief by region are not readily available and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.

Number of mortgagors (thousands)¹
	1979–80	1980–81	1981–82	1982–83	1983–84	1984–85	1985–86	1986–87	1987–88	1988–89	1989–90	1990–91	1991–92^{2 3}	1992–93²
Northern	280	280	290	310	380	390	410	420	440	520	540	550	560	560
Yorkshire	580	570	560	560	680	700	730	740	770	770	780	800	800	780
North West	730	730	720	750	900	940	970	1,000	1,040	1,110	1,140	1,160	1,180	1,130
East Midlands	380	380	420	450	560	590	610	650	680	660	670	680	690	750
West Midlands	610	540	530	510	630	660	690	730	750	860	870	890	890	870
East Anglia	190	160	180	210	260	270	280	310	320	350	360	370	370	370
Greater London	750	720	660	620	770	800	840	900	930	1,010	1,020	1,040	1,050	1,020
Other South East	1,320	1,410	1,420	1,560	1,850	1,870	1,910	1,910	1,980	1,930	1,970	2,020	2,040	2,130
South West	410	400	420	440	560	610	650	730	750	840	850	870	880	870
England	5,250	5,190	5,200	5,410	6,590	6,830	7,090	7,390	7,660	8,050	8,200	8,380	8,460	8,480
Wales	230	230	240	270	350	370	390	420	430	390	400	410	410	440
Scotland	320	340	320	360	450	480	500	520	540	640	660	670	680	700
Northern Ireland	90	100	90	90	110	120	120	120	120	120	140	140	150	180
United Kingdom	5,890	5,860	5,850	6,130	7,500	7,800	8,100	8,450	8,750	9,200	9,400	9,600	9,700	9,800
¹Excludes option mortgage scheme (1979–80 to 1983–84).
²Provisional.
³Higher rate relief was abolished in 1991–92.

Attorney-General

Sentencing

To ask the Attorney-General if he will ensure that upon the conviction of any person of a crime to which section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 applies, written notice is given to the victim of that crime or his or her relatives that the Attorney-General has a right of appeal, with leave of the Court of Appeal, if the sentence passed for that crime is unduly lenient.

There are well-established procedures within the Crown prosecution service and other prosecuting authorities for drawing to my attention cases where a reference to the Court of Appeal under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 might be appropriate. My power to seek leave under the Act applies to all offences triable only upon indictment. There does not appear to be any lack of public awareness of the availability of the reference procedure.

Northumberland Beagling Festival

To ask the Attorney-General how many persons were charged with offences alleged to have been committed at the Northumberland beagling festival, Forestburngate, in September 1991; how many prosecutions were brought; and what were the results of the prosecutions.

Thirteen people were charged with offences alleged to have been committed at the national beagle festival held in Northumberland during September 1991 and all were prosecuted. The results were that four were fined and ordered to pay prosecution costs, four were bound over to keep the peace, the charges against two were dismissed after full trial and the charges against three were not ultimately proceeded with.

Lord Chancellor's Department

Child Abduction

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make a statement about the future of court mediation services in respect of referrals of child abduction cases.

The future role, organisation and funding of mediation services is being reviewed, within the context of divorce law reform, as part of the Government's rolling programme for the reform of family law. The Government have no immediate plans to introduce special arrangements for mediation in child abduction cases.

Overseas Development

Poverty Alleviation

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the World bank is taking to evaluate the effectiveness of its poverty alleviation activities; when this evaluation is expected to be concluded; and if he will make a statement.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Leeds, West (Mr. Battle) on 1 March, at column 21.

Developing Countries

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the dates of forthcoming consultative group meetings for developing countries convened by the World bank or the United Nations Development Programme and the countries which will be discussed at each meeting.

The latest information we have on aid co-ordination meetings planned for the rest of 1993 is as follows:

March: Laos, Philippines, Romania
April: Senegal, Zambia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua

May: Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Uganda, Papua New Guinea, Egypt, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Mongolia
June: Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Tanzania, India, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikstan
July: Sri Lanka
Autumn: Ethiopia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Nepal

Dates to be determined: Nigeria, Vietnam, Lebanon, Russia, Ukraine, Bolivia.The timing is subject to agreement in all cases with the Government concerned and slippage may occur because of unforeseen political or economic developments.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what actions the United Kingdom executive director of the World bank has taken to ensure that developing country non-governmental organisations are fully consulted on the environmental and social impact of World bank projects and structural adjustment loans.

We have consistently supported the World bank's policy of encouraging greater openness and consultation by its borrowers with local non-governmental organisations—NGOs. The bank requires prospective borrowers to make an environmental assessment, which is carried out at an early stage of project design, available to affected groups and local NGOs and to carry out meaningful consultations with them.

International Development Association

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what evaluation his Department has made of the effectiveness of the ninth replenishment of the International Develoment Association; what were the conclusions of this evaluation; and if he will make a statement.

Commitments to specific projects and programmes under the ninth replenishment of IDA are still being made. Disbursements of funds to implement them will continue for some years. They will be subject to ex-post evaluation by the operations evaluation department of the World bank. I also refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 24 February at column 601.

Peru

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on aid relations between the United Kingdom and the Government of Peru.

Given recent steps to restore democratic government in Peru, we have decided to resume those bilateral aid activities which were suspended in April 1992. Work will resume shortly on our offer of £3 million of programme aid and on new technical co-operation activities.

Home Department

Medomsley Detention Centre

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Durham, North-West (Ms Armstrong) of 4 March, Official Report, column 287, why the former HM detention centre at Medomsley, County Durham, cannot be converted into an institution for young offenders instead of being put on the property market; and if he will make a statement.

Medomsley is in a part of the country where there is already enough Prison Service accommodation. Resources would be required to replace dormitories with secure cells for it to meet present-day requirements. In the circumstances, its retention in the Prison Service estate cannot be justified.

Child Pornography

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what measures are being taken to prevent the production and distribution of child pornography in Britain; and if he will make a statement;(2) what measures are being taken to prevent the flow of child pornography into Northumbria;(3) what representations he has received on the issue of child pornography in recent months.

The Government take the problem of child pornography extremely seriously, not least because we recognise that the production of such material often involves the commission of sexual offences against children. The criminal law already contains stringent provisions directed against those who seek to profit from this abhorrent trade. Thus, it is a criminal offence under the Protection of Children Act 1978 to take, distribute, show, advertise or possess with a view to distribution any indecent photograph, film or video recording of a child under the age of 16. The maximum penalty on conviction on indictment of these offences is a prison sentence of three years, an unlimited fine, or both.In the Criminal Justice Act 1988, the law was further strengthened by the introduction of a new offence of possessing child pornography. For this offence, the maximum penalty on summary conviction is a level 5 fine—currently £5,000. The criminal law also contains severe penalties for those convicted of the sexual abuse of children, including life imprisonment for those convicted of rape or buggery.The deployment of police resources in Northumbria against child pornography or any other unlawful activity is an operational matter for the chief constable, in the light of his assessment of the needs of his area. At present, however, we have no reason to believe that child pornography is a greater problem in Northumbria than elsewhere in the United Kingdom.As I indicated in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Castle Point (Dr. Spink) on 5 February,

Official Report, column 350, we are currently considering what improvements can be made in the enforcement of obscenity legislation. We have received a number of representations on this subject, including some which have been specifically concerned with child pornography, and we will announce our conclusions in due course.

Immigration Appeals

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many appeals are outstanding at the Immigration and Nationality Department for (a) naturalisation, (b) registration, (c) political asylum and (d) general immigration casework.

There is no right of appeal under nationality legislation. The available information on immigration cases is that the asylum and special cases division has about 1,550 outstanding cases and the after-entry casework division about 2,800 outstanding cases where an appeal has been lodged and an explanatory statement is awaiting preparation. Comparable figures for appeals casework at ports of entry are not held centrally.

Entry Refusals

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passengers arriving in Great Britain were refused entry at each port in the last year for which figures are available.

The information requested is given in the table.

Passengers refused leave to enter the United Kingdom and removed, 1992
Number of persons
Port	All nationalities
Aberdeen	24
Belfast	9
Birmingham	54
Bournemouth	2
Bristol	13
Cardiff	6
Dover East	2,292
Dover Hoverport	76
Dover West	428
East Midlands	6
Edinburgh	23
Felixstowe	147
Folkstone	51
Gatwick North	1,786
Gatwich South	1,505
Glasgow	106
Harwich	512
Heathrow 1	1,001
Heathrow 2	1,700
Heathrow 3	2,711
Heathrow 4	1,397
Hull	56
Liverpool	43
Luton	29
Manchester	229
Newcastle	1
Newhaven	177
Norwich	10
Plymouth	40
Portsmouth	64
Prestwick	6
Ramsgate	54
Southampton	21
Stansted	104
Thames/Medway	212
Tyne	56
Total	14,951

John Ryan

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what inquiries have been made into the death of John Ryan in Winson Green prison in 1987; and if he will make a statement.

Immediately following John Ryan's death in the hospital unit at Birmingham prison in 1987, an inquiry was undertaken by the regional principal medical officer. In addition the senior medical officer at the prison, at the time, sent a report to the coroner.

The inquest verdict was that Mr. Ryan died from electrolyte imbalance due to water depletion and to bronchopneumonia due to lack of care.

Mr. Ryan's family sued the Department and at the Birmingham county court judgment was found against the Home Office. Negotiations are under way about the terms of a settlement with Mr. Ryan's family.

Mr. Ryan's death in custody was a matter of great regret. The inquiries carried out in 1987 resulted in a number of changes in procedures for monitoring prisoners in the hospital unit.

The director of health care services for prisoners is satisfied that the procedures which now operate at Birmingham should prevent the recurrence of such a tragedy.

Immigration Officers

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many immigration officers are currently employed at the immigration and nationality department in each division and at each port of entry.

The number of immigration officers, chief immigration officers and immigration inspectors in post on 28 February is set out in the table.

Immigration and Nationality Department
	IO	CIO	Inspector
IS (Ports Directorate)	7	10	6
IS (Enforcement Directorate)	120	28·5	11
Personnel Management Unit	18·5	11	5
Ports of Entry
Gatwick North	118·5	19	4
Gatwick South	161·5	26	5
Heathrow - Terminal 1	111	18·5	4
Terminal 2	189	28	5
Terminal 3	244·5	33·5	5
Terminal 4	161·5	24	4
Aberdeen	5	1	—
Belfast	6	1	—
Edinburgh	5	1	—
Glasgow	18	3	1
Prestwick	3	1	—
Hull	11	2	—
Immingham	4	—	—
Leeds/Bradford	9	2	1
Newcastle	8	1	—
North Shields	8	1	—
Stockton	5	—	—
Liverpool	9	2	—
Manchester	62	8	2
Preston	1	—	—
Birmingham	31	5	1·5
East Midlands	13	3	—
Midlands Enquiry Unit	12	3	0·5
Luton	17	3	—
Felixstowe	11	2	—
Harwich	35	8	1
Gravesend	10	—	—
Norwich	5	—	—
Southend	4	—	—
Stansted	58·5	7·5	3
London City	8	1	—
Folkestone	19	2	—
Dover East	160·5	22	7
Dover Hoverport	15	4	—
Dover West	22	3	—
Ramsgate	15	2	—
Sheerness	12	2	—
Bournemouth	4	—	—
Poole	3	—	—
Portsmouth	24	4	—
Southampton	12	2	1

	IO	CIO	Inspector
Avonmouth	5	1	—
Bristol	4	—	—
Cardiff Airport	4	—	—
Cardiff Docks	5	1	1
Plymouth	8	1	—
Swansea	2	—	7
Newhaven	16	4	—
Brize Norton	3	—	—
Total	1,678	252·5	46
Grand Total	1,823·5	302	68

Firearms

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new firearm licences were issued in each year since 1979; and what is the total number of licences currently in force.

Statistics on the number of new firearm certificates issued since 1983 and the number in force at 31 December 1991 were published in Home Office statistical bulletin "Firearms Certificates Statistics, England and Wales, 1991"—issue 19/92. A copy of this bulletin is in the Library. Statistics on new firearm certificates issued prior to 1983 were not collected centrally.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the total number of firearm licences that have been withdrawn in each year since 1987.

The total number of firearm licences which were either revoked or had an application for renewal refused in England and Wales since 1987 is given in the table.

Year	Revocations	Applications for renewal refused
1987	170	276
1988	239	406
1989	224	309
1990	192	239
1991	210	173

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total number of unlicensed guns seized in each police authority area for each year since 1979.

This information is not collected centrally.

Castington Young Offenders Institution

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many vacant places there are at the Castington young offenders institution; and if he will make a statement.

On Friday, 12 March 1993, there were 45 unfilled places at Castington young offender institution. The establishment has a capacity of 300 places, but this has been reduced temporarily to 240 because some staff have had to be deployed on duty elsewhere in the Prison Service estate.

Market Testing

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effect of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 and the EC acquired rights directive on his market testing of establishments division 5 information systems and pay services.

The matter is under consideration. The effect of these provisions will depend on decisions regarding the sectors of business to be subject to competitive tendering and the terms on which tenders are to be invited.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has made, in his market testing of establishment division 5 information systems and pay services (ED5) for the return of work in-house from contractors where this becomes necessary.

Risks will be thoroughly assessed during the market-testing process and contingency plans will be developed as appropriate.

Secure Training Units

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the individuals and organisations he consulted in the process of deciding his policy of building secure training units for the 11 to 15 years age group announced on 2 March.

Before my right hon. and learned Friend made his statement on 2 March at columns 139–42, Ministers and officials considered representations and views about the problem of persistent juvenile offenders from a wide range of individuals and organisations.

Young Offenders

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many younger offenders in the Chelmsford and Mid Essex police division were (a) cautioned by the police and (b) prosecuted; of those prosecuted, how many were convicted; and what orders were made in respect of them in the last three available years.

The information readily available centrally is given in the table. The police force area is the smallest geographical unit for which information on cautioning is available centrally.

Defendants prosecuted and sentenced² by type of sentence or order for all offences, excluding summary motoring in Essex Police Force Area and in Petty Sessional Divisions (PSD) in Chelmsford and Mid Essex¹ 1989 to 1991
	Essex Police Force Area			PSD's in Chelmsford and Mid Essex¹
	1989	1990	1991	1989	1990	1991
Cautioned
10–13	697	839	774	..	..	..
14–16	1,892	2,160	2,129	..	..	..
17–20	485	938	1,075	..	..	..
Prosecuted
10–13	71	59	80	8	5	13
14–16	811	715	797	136	43	53
17–20	4,625	4,266	4,490	788	700	730
SENTENCED² BY TYPE OF SENTENCE OR ORDER
Discharge
10–13	20	12	23	1	—	5
14–16	172	157	168	25	8	8
17–20	434	494	585	74	81	121
Fine
10–13	3	10	26	—	1	5
14–16	140	112	94	29	7	11
17–20	1,761	1,488	1,172	295	208	165
Community penalty³
10–13	17	12	6	—	2	1
14–16	172	153	162	27	10	11
17–20	701	700	768	124	144	131
Detention in a young offender institution
10–13	—	—	—	—	—	—
14–16	25	22	16	—	3	3
17–20	348	271	333	45	42	52
Otherwise dealt with
10–13	2	3	2	—	—	—
14–16	21	17	16	5	2	3
17–20	101	100	79	12	14	5
All sentences or orders
10–13	42	37	57	1	3	11
14–16	530	461	456	86	30	36
17–20	3,345	3,053	2,937	550	489	474
.. = Not available.
¹Chelmsford, Witham (up to February 1991), Dengie and Maldon (up to February 1991), Maldon and Witham (from February 1991), Freshwell and South Hinckford, and Halstead and Hedingham.
²Includes persons sentenced at the Crown Court, following committal for trial or sentence by the PSD's listed in footnote¹.
³Attendance centre orders, community service orders, probation orders or supervision order.

Child Abduction

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what assessment he has made as to the adequacy of records kept in respect of prosecutions for child abduction;(2) how many prosecutions relating to child abduction offences there have been in England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Details of prosecutions for child abduction under sections 1 and 2 of the Child Abduction Act 1984 are contained in the annual publication "Criminal Statistics England and Wales". They include both prosecutions undertaken by the Director of Public Prosecutios and prosecutions instigated by individuals. As explained in appendix 2 to "Criminal Statistics England and Wales 1991", Cm 2134, statistics about court proceedings include some in which there has been no police involvement at the prosecution stage, for example in cases where the prosecution has been brought by a private individual, but the reporting of private prosecutions is known to be incomplete.The available information about the number of prosecutions for offences relating to child abduction under sections 1 and 2 of the Child Abduction Act 1984 for 1987 to 1991 is given in the table. 1992 data are not expected to be available until autumn 1993.

England and Wales—Offence ¹Child Abduction
	Number
1987	52
1988	56
1989	67
1990	66
1991	89
¹Child Abduction Act, 1984, Sections 1 and 2.

Regulations

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 10 February, Official Report, column 624, if he has now finished compiling and checked for accuracy and consistency of definition the comprehensive, provisional list of regulations for which his Department is responsible; and when he intends to place this list in the Library.

[holding answer 16 March 1993]: As I explained in my reply to my hon. Friend on 10 February, a list of regulations that impact on business has been put together by my Department. Work on this has now been completed and it is being placed in the Library.

Immigration

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the entry clearance applications of Mrs. Khadija Bibi—Ref.: IMM/78676—and her children were referred to his Department by the United Kingdom post in Islamabad; when a decision will be taken on these applications; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 11 March 1993]: Mrs. Khadija Bibi and seven children were refused entry clearances by the entry clearance officer in Islamabad on 4 October 1990. They appealed against the decision. The appeal hearing was listed for 18 September 1992 but was adjourned by the immigration appellate authority. In February 1993 Mrs. Bibi's representative sent the immigration department further evidence about the relationship between Mrs. Bibi and four of the children. This has now been considered and the entry clearance officer is being authorised to issue entry clearance to these applicants.

Entry Visas

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions his Department has given entry visas to the Iraqi citizens Amir Al-Saadi, Safa Al-Habobi, Sadik Taha, Raja Hassawali and Hussein Kamil since 1985.

I have been asked to reply.A visa was issued to Safa Al-Habobi in 1988. There is no record of visas being issued to the others listed.

Foreign And Commonwealth Affairs

European Armaments Agency

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to associate the countries of central Europe with the European armaments agency to be established by the Western European Union; and if he will make a statement.

The Western European Union is continuing to examine the possibilities of enhanced co-operation in the field of armaments with the aim of creating a European armaments agency, in line with the declaration by WEU Heads of State and Government at Maastricht on 10 December 1991 and the declaration by the WEU Council of Ministers at the Petersberg on 19 June 1992. There has been no discussion to date of the possibility of associating the countries of central Europe with the eventual agency.

Kosovo

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will agree to extend the UNPROFOR mission to Kosovo.

Decisions on the deployment of United Nations peacekeeping operations are a matter for the United Nations Security Council. There is already a CSCE mission in Kosovo whose aims are to monitor the human rights situation, promote dialogue between the communities and act as intermediary in disputes between the Serbian and local communities.

Yugoslavia

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy to strengthen the present embargo against Serbia and Montenegro to the level recommended in recommendation 530 of the assembly of the Western European Union; and if he will make a statement.

We would support introduction of more rigorous sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro should the Serbs seek to block a settlement. In the meantime we are actively supporting international efforts to ensure existing sanctions are enforced more rigorously. We welcome the efforts of the Western European Union assembly to identify measures that could improve sanctions enforcement.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his policy towards bringing to trial before the appropriate judicial bodies those responsible for war crimes committed during the present conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.

We fully supported the adoption of United Nations Security Council resolution 808 which decides, in principle, to establish an ad hoc war crimes tribunal to bring those accused of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia to justice.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy to support the imposition of sanctions against sea or air transport operators in Western European Union member states found guilty of violating the United Nations embargo against Serbia and Montenegro; and if he will make a statement.

It is the responsibility of each individual state to enforce sanctions within its own territory and according to its own legislation. We are determined to ensure that sanctions are enforced rigorously; there are severe penalties for those convicted of committing breaches. We have no legal powers to take punitive action against companies operating outside the United Kingdom involved in breaches of United Nations sanctions.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance he has offered in response to the request by Romania for help in policing the embargo against Serbia and Montenegro.

The United Kingdom contributes personnel and equipment to the sanctions assistance missions, now operating in a number of states including Romania. We are also making available £100,000 in practical sanctions enforcement to help states on the Danube. This will consist of communications and other equipment for customs authorities. Earlier today my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs discussed ways to tighten enforcement with the Romanian Foreign Minister.

Child Abduction

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will seek a meeting with the Spanish ambassador regarding the position of British children abducted to Spain.

As Spain is signatory to both the Hague and European conventions on child abduction, cases of British children abducted to Spain are dealt with by the Lord Chancellor's Department.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when measures to prevent child abduction were last discussed at the level of the United Nations.

Article 11 of the United Nations convention on the rights of the child calls upon states to take measures to combat

"the illicit transfer and non-return of children abroad".

The convention was adopted by the General Assembly on 20 November 1989 after many years of detailed discussions.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what data his Department has on cases of British children being abducted and taken abroad in the last three years.

Cases of children abducted to countries which are signatory to either or both of the Hague and European conventions are dealt with by the Lord Chancellor's Department, which is the central authority within the United Kingdom under the conventions. No data are available in my Department on such cases.Statistics involving children taken to non-convention countries which were brought to the attention of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are as follows:

	Children
1990	149
1991	108
1992	98

There may have been others of which we were not made aware.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with other Commonwealth countries on the ratification of international conventions and bilateral agreements for the return of abducted children.

It is our policy to encourage all countries, including Commonwealth countries, to adhere to the Hague convention. The Commonwealth Secretariat is hoping to put his subject on the agenda for the Commonwealth Law Ministers' meeting in November this year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will meet the National Council for Abducted Children to consider the appointment of a senior diplomat to mediate and negotiate for the return of abducted children.

This proposal was one of the recommendations in the report of the Parliamentary working party on child abduction, published on 9 March 1993. I wish to study the report before considering such a meeting.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to (a) Italy and (b) Greece regarding signature and ratification of the Hague convention on child abduction.

No. Both countries have signed the convention; Italy is in the process of ratifying; Greece has ratified but has not yet deposited instruments of ratification at the Hague.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what initiatives he will recommend to his European Community partners to prevent child abduction in the European Community.

None: the resolution on custody and abduction of children across national borders was adopted by the European Parliament in March 1984. It stated that the Council of Europe and Hague conventions were the appropriate means of protecting children and called on member states to ratify the conventions as soon as possible.

Western European Union

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy to support the proposal in recommendation 528 of the assembly of the Western European Union to invite the central European countries to observe exercises co-ordinated by the Western European Union planning cell.

We note the suggestion made by the assembly of the Western European Union, and will consider it in due course. There is some way to go before the WEU is ready to conduct exercises.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proposals he has to ensure that an agreement between NATO and the Western European Union is so framed as to avoid duplication.

The modalities of the relationship between the Western European Union and the Atlantic alliance were set out in the declaration by WEU Heads of State and Government at Maastricht on 10 December 1991. Both NATO and the WEU have since agreed documents proposing guidelines for the practical working relations between the two organisations. The arrangements aim to ensure complementarity and transparency, not duplication, between the organisations.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy to support recommendation 532 of the Assembly of Western European Union on the need for member states of the Western European Union to co-ordinate policy on export of military equipment, end-distination controls on exports of jointly-produced equipment and the requirement to notify such exports to the United Nations register of international arms transfers; and if he will make a statement.

We are already working with our Western European Union partners, in the context of European political co-operation, for greater harmonisation and information exchange in national procedures on arms exports, including licensing procedures and procedures to ensure control of end use. We intend to notify the United Nations of all imports and exports covered by the United Nations register.

To ask the Secretary of state for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy to support recommendation 531 of the Assembly of Western European Union for the Western European Union Council to draw up plans for military operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

We share the Western European Union assembly's concern at the crisis in the former Yugoslavia. We have supported WEU actions and contingency planning on Yugoslavia on the basis that it takes account of the requirements of the situation, the availability of resources, and planning in other organisations such as NATO.

Nuclear Defence

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the adoption of a joint European position towards the American programme for global protection against limited strikes.

The new United States administration will wish to consult European allies on ballistic missile defences. NATO provides the natural forum for such discussion. The WEU may also have a role to play in defining European ballistic missile defence interests.

Palestine Liberation Organisation

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's relations with the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Government's policy on the implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 799.

On 9 March my right hon. and learned Friend the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office met Faisal Husseini, leader of the Palestinian negotiating team in the middle east peace process and two representatives of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. He stressed the importance of an early resumption of peace talks, and urged the Palestinians to accept the invitations to the next round. We continue to seek a solution to the deportations problem on the basis of Security Council resolution 799.

Israel

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's policy on economic sanctions against the state of Israel.

We do not think economic sanctions against the state of Israel would be helpful.

River Danube

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what offers of expertise, technical assistance or equipment have been made to the Danube riparian states to prevent the use of the River Danube in avoiding the sanctions imposed by UN Security Council resolutions 713 and 757.

The United Kingdom took the lead in setting up EC/CSCE sanctions assistance missions to advise the Governments on the enforcement of sanctions. The United Kingdom has contributed both personnel and equipment to these missions. They are now in place in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia, Ukraine and Macedonia. We have also offered £100,000 to enable states on the Danube to procure communications and other equipment for use by local customs authorities.

Arms Limitation Agreements

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what technical assistance is being offered to the countries of central Europe to enable them to participate in operations to verify disarmament or arms limitation agreements to which they may be party.

The joint arms control implementation group has a programme of training exchanges with verification agencies in the former Warsaw pact states and recently hosted a highly successful seminar on the practical implementation of arms control agreements. The United Kingdom is also offering places to inspectors from former Warsaw pact states on forthcoming national inspections under the treaty on conventional armed forces in Europe.

Macedonia

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his policy on the recognition of the independence of the Republic of Macedonia with a name acceptable to its population; and if he will make a statement.

The Edinburgh European Council decided to set aside the recognition of Macedonia to concentrate on issues that would be of practical assistance, including UN membership. The question of recognition is, therefore, still under consideration.

Greece And Turkey

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what efforts Her Majesty's Government have made in resolving the differences which exist between Greece and Turkey.

Where we have a direct interest in issues of difficulty between Greece and Turkey, such as Cyprus, we continue our efforts to help find a lasting solution acceptable to all sides.

Serbia And Montenegro

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy to publish evidence of any breach of the embargo imposed against Serbia and Montenegro.

It would not be proper for us to publish any allegations of sanctions breaches in advance of any prosecution that may take place and indeed to do so may prejudice the chances of a successful prosecution.The United Nations sanctions committee investigates allegations of sanctions breaches and brings them to the attention of those responsible. It is not, however, the practice of the committee to publish its discussions.

Brussels Treaty

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans he has to refer the dispute on the expiry of the period of 50 years laid down in article XII of the modified Brussels treaty to a group of independent legal experts.

We have no plans to do so.

Overseas Missions

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 12 February, Official Report, column 842, at how many missions there is more than one swimming pool; and for what reason.

Swimming pools are officially provided for two reasons: for the representational use of the head of post and/or for amenity use by the staff at post, especially where staff live in a compound, or where such facilities are not locally available, accessible or suitable. Of the 135 swimming pools at posts overseas, about 80 are primarily representational and about 55 primarily for amenity use.In the 26 FCO posts at which there are two swimming pools, one in each post is solely for representational use and the other solely for amenity use by the staff at post.

Tennis courts are officially provided for two reasons: for the representational use of the head of post and/or for amenity use by the staff at post, especially where staff live in a compound, or where such facilities are not locally available, accessible, or suitable. Of the 81 tennis courts at posts overseas, about 24 are primarily representational and about 57 primarily for amenity use.In the 10 FCO posts at which there are two tennis courts, one in each post is solely for representational use and the other solely for amenity use by the staff at post.

Departmental Officers (Travel)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 2 March, Official Report, column 62, of the families accompanying the nine officers in first class, how many were dependent children.

Included in the families accompanying the nine officers in first class were two dependent children.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 2 March, Official Report, column 62, what was the cost in the last year for which figures are available for officials and advisers travelling first class on duty journeys in the company of Ministers.

For the diplomatic wing, in the 12 months to 31 January 1993, the cost of first-class air travel for officials and advisers accompanying Ministers was £98,763, less rebates which the FCO will receive as part of its travel management contract.For the overseas development wing, in the 12 months to 31 January 1993, the cost of first-class air travel for officials and advisers accompanying Ministers was £39,805, less rebates which the ODA will receive as part of its travel management contract.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 2 March, Official Report, column 62, what were the operational reasons which required 12 officers to travel first class to their posts abroad in the last year; and what was the grade of the officer who travelled first class by virtue of his grade.

It is policy that ambassadors and high commissioners should fly first class on first arrival at and on final departure from the country to which they are accredited. It is expected that they will have to meet high-ranking members of the host Government and that they may have to give a statement to the press immediately before or after their journeys. They should not, therefore, travel below the status expected of them. They are also usually travelling at the end of hectic periods of briefing or debriefing. These were the operational reasons in the 12 cases cited. The other officer, also being appointed as ambassador, who travelled first class by virtue of his grade, was graded at salary point 1 of the senior grade.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 2 March, Official Report, column 62, how many private secretaries and officers travelled first class in the 12 months to January.

For the diplomatic wing, in the 12 months to 31 January 1993, 36 private secretaries and officers travelled in first class on duty journeys overseas.For the overseas development wing, in the 12 months to 31 January 1993, 55 private secretaries and officers travelled first class on duty journeys overseas.

Wales

Empty Properties

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many houses owned by the Mid Wales Development Agency, the Welsh Development Agency and local authorities are presently standing empty; what is the amount of rent thereby lost; and what plans he has to reduce the number of empty properties.

No dwellings owned by the Welsh Development Agency are currently vacant. The number of vacant dwellings owned by local authorities and the Mid Wales Development Agency are given in the following table:

	Vacant dwellings
Local authorities¹	2,034
Development board for rural Wales²	50
¹At 1 April 1992.
²At 28 February 1993.

The rent lost by local authorities through void dwellings in the week ending 4 April 1992 was £60,000. Plans to reduce the number of local authorities' vacant dwellings are outlined in the "Agenda for Action for Housing in Wales". The document specifies a target that, for each local authority, the number of vacant dwellings should represent no more than 2 per cent. of its stock by 1993–94, and by 1996–97 it should be no higher than the figure achieved by the upper quartile of authorities in 1992–93.

Food Poisoning

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish figures showing the number of reported cases of (a) campylobacter, (b) salmonella, (c) salmonella enteritidis PT4, (d) listeria and (e) general food poisonings in Wales in both 1990 and 1991.

The number of notifications of food poisoning in Wales in 1990 and 1991 are shown in the table. Cases of campylobacter, salmonella, salmonella enteritidis PT4 and listeria are not separately notifiable.

	Formally notified	Ascertained by other means
1990	2,528	495
¹1991	2,715	670
¹1991 data are provisional.

Source: Office of Population Censuses and Surveys.

Rechem International Ltd

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has received in regard to the plans by ReChem to import dioxin-contaminated wastes from Hamburg for incineration at Pontypool, Gwent; and what communications he has had with his German counterpart on the subject.

The Welsh Office has received four letters relating to imports of waste from Germany. The German Government have been made aware of the United Kingdom's policy of self-sufficiency in final disposal for developed countries.

Heads Of The Valleys Authority

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he will list the wards in the proposed Heads of the Valleys unitary authority which have been defined by his Department as deprived.

The list of wards recognised as deprived for urban programme purposes which was published in Welsh Office circular No. 25/91 includes all the wards in the proposed Heads of the Valleys unitary authority.

Mental Hospitals

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many mental hospital beds have been available in Wales in each year since 1985; and how many of these beds were located in old-style mental hospitals in each year.

The requested information is given in the table.

Number of beds¹
	All hospitals	²Nine largest mental illness hospitals
1985–86	4,804·7	4,030·9
1986–87	4,693·4	3,900·1
1987–88	4,493·0	3,641·5
1988–89	4,358·4	3,503·3
1989–90	4,144·0	3,227·7
1990–91	3,973·4	2,959·0
1991–92	3,726·8	2,700·5
¹Average daily available in the specialties of mental illness, child and adolescent psychiatry, old age psychiatry and forensic psychiatry.
²The hospitals included are North Wales, St. David's (Carmarthen), Pen Y Fal, St. Cadocs, Glanrhyd, Parc, Mid Wales, Whitchurch and Cefn Coed.

Capital City Status Study (South Glamorgan)

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a financial contribution towards the cost of the enhanced capital city status study carried out for the South Glamorgan county council by the town and regional planning department, University of Wales, college of Cardiff.

No.

Public Bodies

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many appointments to the public bodies listed in "Public Bodies" for his Department were made from names supplied by the public appointments unit; and if he will list them.

This information is not held centrally and could not be identified.

Regional Assistance

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will set out by travel-to-work area the total amount of money received since 1984 in (a) regional assistance and (b) from the European rural development fund.

Information about European regional development fund allocations are not available on a travel-to-work area basis; regional assistance payments since 1984 are as follows:

Regional assistance 1984 to 1992
Travel to Work Area	Expenditure (£000)
Aberdare	12,227
Aberystwyth¹	25
Bangor and Caernarfon	1,365

Travel to Work Area	Expenditure (£000)
Blaenau Gwent Abergavenny	30,602
Brecon¹	42
Bridgend	36,805
Cardiff	28,874
Cardigan	2,746
Carmarthen¹	645
Conwy and Colwyn¹	550
Denbigh¹	27
Dolgellau and Barmouth¹	30
Fishguard	65
Haverfordwest	1,003
Holyhead	3,074
Lampeter and Aberaeron	2,307
Llandeilo¹	43
Llandrindod Wells¹	71
Llanelli	6,354
Merthyr and Rhymney	41,201
Monmouth¹	125
Neath and Port Talbot	27,947
Newport	32,042
Newtown¹	147
Pontypool and Cwmbran	19,352
Pontypridd and Rhondda	67,820
Porthmadog and Ffestiniog	586
Pwllheli	40
Shotton, Flint & Rhyl	71,422
South Pembrokeshire	2,473
Swansea	16,139
Welshpool¹	52
Wrexham	60,371
¹Areas which lost Assisted Area status as a result of changes to the Assisted Areas map in 1979, 1982 and 1984.

Table includes expenditure relating to regional selective assistance, regional development grant II, and regional enterprise grants.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement concerning development area status in Wales.

The representations received about the review of assisted areas are currently being considered. The Government hope to be able to make an announcement on the outcome of the review as soon as possible.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what has been the amount of money made available to each travel-to-work area in Clwyd under objective 2 status; and if he will make a statement.

The resources which have been made available to provide European regional development fund—ERDF—and European social fund—ESF—grant assistance relate to the whole of this objective 2 area and are not allocated to any specific travel-to-work area.The funding allocations agreed with the European Community for the Clwyd objective 2 programmes are shown in the table:

£ million
Programme	ERDF funding¹	ESF funding¹
(a) 1989–91 Integrated Development Operational Programme	20·9	2·58
(b) 1992–93 Operational Programme	19·5	2·26
Assumes an exchange rate of £1 = 1·435 ecu.

Transport

Tankers

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration has been given to compulsory pilotage for laden oil tankers in the Minches and other sensitive waters.

Compulsory pilotage has been considered for waters such as the Minch but has not been introduced for various legal and practical reasons. It would represent an infringement of the right of innocent passage. Further, pilotage can be required only where there is a competent harbour authority and, even then, masters using a route regularly are entitled to a pilotage exemption certificate. The voluntary code recently agreed with the industry therefore concentrates on other measures to reduce risks to sensitive areas. I understand that Lord Donaldson is covering this question in the work of his inquiry.

Railway Investment

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list all the railway investment projects which have received grant aid from the European regional development fund for each of the last 10 years; and the amount of grant received in each case.

I have written to the hon. Gentleman and placed a copy of my reply in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport by what criteria railway investment projects are considered for eligibility for grant aid from the European regional development fund.

The eligibility of programmes for grant aid from the European regional development fund is determined by regulation 4254/88—EC Official Journal 374/1988. Individual investment programmes are considered against these criteria by the relevant programme committees for the areas concerned.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list all the current and pending railway investment projects for which applications for grant aid from the European regional development fund have been made; and the amount of grant aid being sought in each case.

Following is a list of British Rail projects for which full or outline applications have been made for aid from the fund.

	Grant sought £
Swansea industrial access road	97,500
Pontypool road environmental improvements	18,750
Cardiff central station new public access	240,000
Machynlleth station environment improvements	128,000
Tywyn station platform extension	53,200
Cambrian lines infrastructure improvements phase II	278,200
Cambrian lines station lighting schemes	32,000
Cambrian lines level crossing modernisation	136,000
Follingsby access & drainage for industry	1,299,000
Durham & Cleveland stations environmental works	500,000
Chester station environmental improvements	521,000
Wrexham general station environmental imps	45,000
Plymouth 1 Aira depot new facilities for CT trains	1,400,000
Trafford park channel tunnel freight terminal	4,200,000

Grant sought £

Total

8,948,650

Note: This is not an exhaustive list as some applications are still being developed.

Public Bodies

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many appointments to the public bodies listed in "Public Bodies" for his Department were made from names supplied by the public appointments unit; and if he will list them.

A total of 12 of the appointments to the public bodies listed in "Public Bodies" for the Department of Transport were made from names supplied by the public appointments unit. These are as follows:

Body and Member

British Railways Board

Miss K. Kantor

London Transport

Mr. O. Roith

Landscape Advisory Committee

Professor M. MacKeith
Professor M. Benwell
Mr. H. Geddes
Mrs. P. Lunn
Sir H. Aubrey-Fletcher

Street Works Advisory Committee

Mr. S. W. Mustow (Chairman)
Mrs. M. J. Bloom
Mrs. S. May
Miss P. A. Steel
Mrs. J. Venables

My right hon. Friend also appoints lay members of the transport tribunal, although responsibility for the tribunal rests with the Lord Chancellor's Department and is listed accordingly in "Public Bodies". Such appointments made from names supplied by the unit are Mr. J. Whitworth and Mr. G. Simms.

The Department may also check with the unit whether it has additional information on names from other sources, such as professional bodies, representative organisations, chairmen, or responses to advertisements.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage share of total departmental spending was accounted for by non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1979.

Details of expenditure on non-departmental public bodies by individual departments from 1981–82 may be found in the annual publication "Public Bodies". Expenditure by the Department of Transport on NDPBs as a percentage of the Department's cash planning total since 1981–82 was as follows:

Year	Percentage
1981–82	0·2
1982–83	0·2
1983–84	0·6
1984–85	0·6
1985–86	0·7

Year	Percentage
1998–87	0·7
1987–88	0·7
1988–89	0·6
1989–90	0·3
1990–91	0·2
1991–92	0·2

Plutonium

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place in the Library the safety studies relating to the movement of plutonium nitrate solution from Dounreay to Sellafield via sea.

A copy is already in the Library.

Shipping (Sewage)

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 9 March, Official Report, column 474, when he expects to be able to introduce appropriate merchant shipping legislation to give full effect to the provision for requirements for sewage systems; and when he expects these requirements to become operational.

Standards for the design and construction of ship's sewage systems are being developed in the International Maritime Organisation's ship design and equipment sub-committee with a target date for completion of 1995. Merchant shipping legislation will be introduced to give effect to international requirements as soon as they are made.

Channel Tunnel Rail Link

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the current estimated cost of (a) the King's Cross terminal development and (b) the crossrail link line.

The estimates that we have indicate that the cost of the King's Cross terminal would be of the order of £1.4 billion and the crossrail project of the order of £1.7 billion.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of funding for the channel tunnel rail link construction he is planning should come from the private sector.

It is too early to say. The Government are committed to taking the project forward as a joint venture, and we shall now discuss the proposals with the private sector.

Swanage Railway

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what decision his Department has made on the: application for a light railway order on the Swanage railway.

Following a local public inquiry and consideration of the inspector's report, I have today determined that this order should be made. I shall be sending my hon. Friend a copy of the decision letter and the inspector's report for information.

Heathrow Airport

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what additions or improvements to the motorway system will be needed to cater for traffic using the proposed fifth terminal at Heathrow.

A number of schemes to improve the M25 and M4 in the vicinity of Heathrow are already in the national road programme and these will be needed whether or not a fifth terminal is to be built at Heathrow. In addition road access to the proposed fifth terminal would require a dedicated spur from the M25, and widening and junction improvements on the M4 between its junction 3 and the M25. I am adding schemes for these improvements to the programme so that the details of the road and traffic implications of a new terminal at Heathrow can be developed and considered alongside the planning application. I must stress that most of these further improvements will be needed only if the proposal for terminal 5 receives consent. We have reached agreement with the British Airports Authority on appropriate funding arrangements.

Motorways

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he now expects the M3 extension between Bar End and Compton to be completed.

The M3 motorway between Bar End and Compton is expected to be completed in autumn 1994.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration his Department is giving to the upgrading of the M27 at Chilworth into a four-lane motorway; and on what time scale.

There is a scheme in the road programme for widening the motorway between junctions 4 and 12. The next stage would be to conduct a fee competition for the engineering consultancy. No date has yet been fixed for this.

Hazchem Warning System

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made on incorporationg the hazchem warning system into proposed European legislation; and if he will make a statement.

My Department is working closely with the Home Office to promote the benefits of Hazchem's emergency action codes in Europe with a view to incorporating them in the United Nations road transport agreement, ADR, which is likely to form the basis of future European Commission proposals concerning the transport of dangerous goods. An ADR working group will meet at the United Kingdom fire service college in mid-April to consider our proposals.

Channel Tunnel Rail Link

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if it remains his policy that the rail link between 16 northern regions and the channel tunnel should be via King's Cross; and if he will make a statement;

(2) if he will publish the latest information available to his Department on plans for the British Rail high-speed rail link through London.

I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer's statement to the House on 16 March, column 194. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will make a full statement very soon.

Social Security

Child Support Agency

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the effect of the work of the Child Support Agency on the work of the courts in Warrington South.

Implementation of the Child Support Act will mean that assessment, collection and enforcement of child maintenance in the majority of cases will be for the Child Support Agency and not for the courts. However, the courts will retain responsibility in certain areas, such as the arrangement of spousal maintenance, in handling property settlements, and in matters deciding contact with children.The Child Support Agency will not be fully operational until 1997. Offsetting the transfer of functions from the courts during the period to 1997 will be additional work involving the variation of existing court orders.An assessment of the impact on the work of the courts in Warrington, South is not separately available.

Unemployed Claimants

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will update the figures in table 5.10 of "Social Trends 1992," showing the percentages of unemployed claimants in 1991 receiving (a) unemployment benefit only, (b) unemployment benefit plus supplementary benefit and/or income support and (c) neither.

The information in the form requested for both 1991 and 1992 is in the table.

Unemployed male claimants receiving each benefit (percentage)	November 1991 (per cent.)	November 1992 (per cent.)
Unemployment Benefit only	20·0	17·8
Unemployment Benefit and Income Support	6·1	5·2
Income Support only	62·5	64·8
Neither Unemployment Benefit or Income Support	11·4	12·2
Total unemployed claimants ( = 100 per cent.) (thousands)	1,773	2,073
Unemployed female claimants receiving each benefit (percentage)
Unemployment Benefit only	28·4	26·7
Unemployment Benefit and Income Support	2·1	2·1
Income Support only	51·3	52·3
Neither Unemployment Benefit or Income Support	18·2	18·9
Total unemployed claimants ( = 100 per cent.) (thousands)	540	614

Note:Figures are for Great Britain.

Source: Quarterly Analysis of Unemployed Claimants

Local Offices

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to increase the number of those employed in the Benefits Agency offices in Greenock and Port Glasgow; and if he will make a statement.

The administration of the Benefits Agency is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive. He will reply to the hon. Member with such information as is available and a copy will be placed in the Library.

Letter from Michael Bichard to Dr. Norman Godman, dated 15 March 1993:

As Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency, it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking what plans he has to increase the number of those employed in the Benefits Agency offices in Greenock and Port Glasgow.

Resource allocations for the next financial year for Greenock and Port Glasgow, which form the district of Clyde Coast and Cowal, have not been decided and so it is not yet possible to indicate whether staffing levels are likely to increase in these offices. It may prove helpful if I outline the timetable for allocating resources and give a broad indication of when the information you have asked for will be available.

Indicative allocations were issued to District Managers and Area Directors in February and final allocations will be made before the end of March. Part of all districts' allocations are made to Area Directors who are responsible for agreeing with District Managers how these resources should be distributed. Decisions will be made during April/May on the Area Director's allocation to districts. It will then be for District Managers to decide on staffing levels for the different offices within their district.

The level of resources allocated to districts is subject to continuous review throughout the year as workloads or other factors change. This can result in adjustments being made to staffing levels after initial allocations have been agreed.

I have asked the manager of Clyde Coast and Cowal district to write to you with planned staffing levels, for the next financial year, as soon as decisions have been reached.

I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy of this letter will appear in the Official Report and a copy will also appear in the Library.

Family Size

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish the latest figures available showing families with four or more children (a) as a percentage of all families with children and (b) as a percentage of unemployed families with children.

I have been asked to reply.Information for Great Britain from the summer (June to August) 1992 "Labour Force Survey" shows that;

(a) 5 per cent. of all one plus child families included four or more children;

(b) 10 per cent. of heads of one plus child families who were unemployed on the ILO definition had four or more children in their family.

Note: Children are only included if aged under 17 or aged 17 or 18 in full-time education.

Duchy Of Lancaster

Lay Adjudicator Scheme

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what is the present status of the lay adjudicator scheme outlined in the citizens charter White Paper.

Having considered how the lay adjudicator scheme might work in practice, the Government have decided that the first step must be to make sure that public services' own complaints systems are effective and operate in line with citizens charter principles. As announced in the "Citizen's Charter First Report: 1992" (Cm 2101), this will be achieved through two initiatives. One is Charterline, a telephone helpline to provide information about the citizens charter and individual charters; and about whom to contact for more information about public services or to make a complaint. Charterline will be piloted in May 1993 in the east midlands.The second is a review of public service complaints systems by a review team of people with relevant experience and expertise drawn from a variety of backgrounds. The team will encourage public services to operate in line with citizens charter principles and will offer advice on setting up and improving complaints systems. The team will operate for a period of two years, at the end of which it will recommend any further measures that may be needed to address the issues identified in the citizens charter White Paper (Cm 1599).Work is in hand on the setting up of the team and I hope to make a formal announcement before the end of the month.

Environment

Environmental Protection

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the amounts of central Government support for local authorities under his Department's environmental protection programme for each of the last five years for each standard region of England and in total.

The information is not held in the form requested. I will write to the hon. Member.

Animal Imports

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make representations to his EC colleagues for the amendment of CITES to secure improved enforcement of provisions under article 111 relating to the import of animals for use by souvenir photographers.

Application of article III of CITES is already mandatory throughout the European Community under the provisions of EC Council regulation 3626/82. I shall be happy to investigate, or to pass to the European Commission or CITES secretariat, as appropriate, any evidence of failure to implement or enforce the convention.

Water Abstraction Charges

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the forthcoming changes in water abstraction charges.

I have recently approved the National Rivers Authority's new national abstraction charging scheme for 1993–94.The adoption of the new scheme does not affect the amount to be raised within each region. The national average increase in bills is some 1·7 per cent., but the increase varies between regions according to the need for spending on water resource management and movements in balances.

Zoo Licensing Act 1981

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to review the implementation of the Zoo Licensing Act 1981.

None at present.

Drinking Water

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the current regulations about the content of lead in drinking water in force in the United Kingdom; and what assessment he has made of the effect on them of World Health Organisation guidelines.

The Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 1989 prescribe a maximum concentration at the point where water is supplied by the undertaker of 50 micrograms of lead per litre of water in any sample of drinking water. This is more stringent than the requirements of the EC drinking water directive. We are considering whether any changes are needed in the light of the revised guidelines which the World Health Organisation is expected to publish later in the year.

House Prices, Warrington

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the average price of houses in Warrington, South in each year since 1984–85.

Information on dwelling prices at regional level is published in "Housing and Construction Statistics", but figures are not available at constituency level.

Landfill Sites

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on progress made in meeting the targets set in the EC framework waste directive to establish the licensing of landfill sites by 1 April.

The licensing of waste landfill sites is already required under part I of the Control of Pollution Act 1974. These will be replaced by new waste licensing provisions under part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which I now propose to bring into force on 1 June this year. Some further amendments to United Kingdom legislation will also be required to implement the directive in full and appropriate regulations will be laid in due course, after relevant interests have been consulted.

Toxic Emissions

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what new initiatives he has taken to reduce the effects of toxic emissions and pollution by petrochemical industries on Merseyside.

Under part 1 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, prescribed processes require authorisation by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution, and chemical plants fall into this category. In granting authorisation, the enforcing authority must seek to ensure that the best available techniques not entailing excessive cost, are employed to prevent or minimise the release of any substance prescribed for any medium.HMIP has prepared guidance, in the form of process guidance notes for inspectors, on the standards to be applied to the processes it controls. The first nine notes in the chemicals sector which cover organic chemical processes were published on 27 January in preparation for the processes coming under integrated pollution control from 1 May 1993. These notes are publicly available for the benefit of operators and other interested parties. Further guidance notes for the chemicals sector will be published during 1993.Copies of the guidance notes have been placed in the Library.

Food Availability

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what studies he has made of the effect of the loss of local fresh food shops and the growth of out-of-town superstores on food availability and prices for non-car owners.

None. But more general research led to the report "The Effects of Major Out-of-Town Retail Development", published by HMSO last year. That research informed the draft revised planning policy guidance note 6 "Town Centres and Retail Development" which we published for public consultation last October.

Ozone Levels

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what have been the levels of high-level ozone over the United Kingdom for the last three dates for which figures have been recorded; and what were the figures for equivalent dates in each of the last 10 years.

The most recent three days for which total column ozone measurements are available from Lerwick, Scotland and Camborne, Cornwall are 13,14 and 15 March. The measurements, together with measurements on the same dates for the past 10 years are as follows:

Dobson Spectrophotometer Ozone Measurement in Dobson Units (DU)
	Lerwick, Scotland			Camborne, Cornwall
	13 March	14 March	15 March	13 March	14 March	15 March
1993	330	360	342	331	324
1992	360	330	303	447	440	331
1991	350	339				336
1990	337	334	313	328		393
1989	385	321	352	433	502	475
1988	391	392	357	456	464	444
1987	403		385	360		387
1986	359	341	316	342	375	314
1985	358	409	427
1984	378	370	414	391	360	373
1983	322	353	345	506	457	408

Blanks in the table indicate where measurements could not be made, due to certain conditions of wind, rain and cloud. Data for 1990–1993 are provisional pending final calibration in the summer.

Residential Property (Businesses)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what guidance he issues on the car parking provisions which should be provided by planning authorities when considering planning applications for the operation of a taxi business from a residential property; and if he will make a statement;(2) if he will consider giving further guidelines in planning policy guidance 4 to the hours that any business may be conducted from a terraced house when the neighbouring properties are occupied as domestic living quarters; and if he will make a statement;(3) if he will give further consideration to improving the guidelines in planning policy guidance 4 concerning the establishing of taxi businesses from terraced houses; and if he will make a statement.

The revised planning policy guidance note No. 4 "Industrial and Commercial Development and Small Firms" was published in November 1992. It explains that planning permission will normally be required for any use of a dwelling house for business purposes which changes materially the overall character of the property's use as a dwelling house. Such a change may be indicated where the non-residential use generates visitors, traffic, noise or fumes over and above what might be expected if the property were in use as a single dwelling without any ancillary use.It is for local planning authorities to decide whether the use of residential properties for business purposes is appropriate and acceptable development given the circumstances of each case, or whether such uses could be made acceptable by the imposition of conditions, such as those limiting working hours. The provision of adequate car-parking facilities can be material in deciding individual applications for planning permission. Guidance on the reasonableness of car-parking requirements is given in appendix D of planning policy guidance note No. 13.

Plant And Machinery (Rating)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish the report of the expert advisory committee chaired by Mr. Derek Wood QC which has reviewed the rating of plant and machinery.

The Secretary of State has, together with my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, published the Wood committee report as a command paper and placed copies in the Library of the House. We are grateful to the chairman and members of the Committee for the thorough way in which they have investigated the rating of plant and machinery. They invited written evidence from a wide range of interested bodies and business ratepayers and received responses from 71 of them, some of whom also gave oral evidence. Members of the Committee also undertook a series of visits to different types of industrial plants.The report is the first comprehensive review of the subject to be undertaken for over 30 years. The recommendations deal with how the rating of plant and machinery can be made more consistent with the rating valuation hypothesis and on the means to achieve harmonisation of the rating of plant and machinery throughout the United Kingdom. Specific recommendations remove anomalies and delete obsolete and tautologous references in the current rules. The report also suggests that valuations of plant and machinery using the contractor's basis should employ the unit cost method currently adopted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.The Government would welcome views on the report by 12 May before considering the extent to which its conclusions should be implemented for the 1995 revaluation of non-domestic property. In due course, we will undertake full consultation on the necessary implementing legislation.

Environmental Assessment

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when the consultation paper reviewing permitted development rights granted in the Town and Country General Development Order 1988 in relation to environmental assessment will be issued; and if he will make a statement.

I am pleased to announce the issue of the consultation paper today. It endorses the Government's commitment to ensuring that all projects which could have significant effects are thoroughly assessed before being allowed to go forward. The consultation paper invites comments on proposals to withdraw permitted development rights for projects listed in schedule 2 to the Town and Country Planning (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1988 where they are likely to have such effects.The consultation paper will also invite views on the Government's intention to withdraw permitted development rights where a proposed development is likely to have a significant effect on a special protection area designated under the birds directive (EC directive 79/409), or a special area of conservation designated under the habitats directive (EC directive 92/43).

Housing Associations

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assistance he proposes to offer to housing associations in the transition to community care; and if he will make a statement.

Overall responsibility for policy on community care and monitoring its detailed implementation at local level rests with the Department of Health. Recognising the role housing associations can play in community care, I am asking the Housing Corporation to relax its rules so that, as a transitional measure in 1993–94, housing associations will continue to be eligible for special needs management allowance support for people placed in residential homes by local authorities.I am aware that particular concern has been expressed about the future of care homes for those with an unsettled lifestyle, which may include people who misuse alcohol and drugs and people who are mentally ill. I am therefore asking the Housing Corporation to liaise closely with housing associations operating schemes for such people.

Waste Management

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to implement the waste management licensing system under part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990; and if he will make a statement.

Since August 1992 the Government have been consulting on the measures needed to implement the enhanced system of waste management licensing under part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. These consultations have been complex and detailed because of the need to strike the right balance between regulations, exemptions from licensing and guidance; the need to take account of European Community measures dealing with waste management; and the need to keep the burden of regulation to a minimum consistent with achieving our environmental protection objectives.Given the range and weight of the comments raised, it has not been possible to conclude considering them by the Government's previous target date for implementation of licensing of 1 April 1993. I therefore propose to bring the waste management licensing system into force on 1 June 1993; regulations will be laid before the House in good time before then.

Sellafield

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what emergency plans there are for Northern Ireland following an accident at the Sellafield reprocessing plant.

I have been asked to reply.The operators of the Sellafield plant, as with all operators of nuclear installations, are required as a condition of their site licence, to prepare emergency plans which are subject to approval by the Health and Safety Executive's nuclear installations inspectorate. These plans include a detailed planning zone around each installation and in the case of Sellafied this is 2 km. The boundary of this zone is defined in relation to the accident with the greatest off-site consequences which can reasonably be predicted given the design of the plant, its protective systems and operating limits. These plans also form the basis for an extended response in the very unlikely event that a more severe accident should occur. In the unlikely event of an accident at Sellafield the emergency arrangements detailed in existing plans would be invoked to respond to any off-site consequences. The response would be handled locally and, under existing arrangements, the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland would be notified.Well-established procedures for dealing with nuclear emergencies were put in place following the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Northern Ireland is included in the radioactive incident monitoring response network established under the national response for the United Kingdom.

Benzene

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the benzene content of (a) standard unleaded motor fuel and (b) super unleaded motor spirit; and at what stage additional benzene is added to (a) or (b).

As the question falls to the Department of Transport, I have been asked to reply. There is no correlation between benzene content and the grade of petrol. The benzene content of leaded, unleaded and super unleaded petrol is controlled in each case at a maximum of 5 per cent. by volume under EC Directive 85/210. Market surveys show that, in practice, petrol typically contains 2 to 4 per cent. of benzene by volume. Within the European Community the limit of 5 per cent. is being reviewed. Benzene is not added to petrol at any stage during refining, but is produced during the process called reforming, which is used to make high-octane petrol.

House Of Commons

Rabbit Phone Points

To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee if Rabbit phone points will be installed on the parliamentary estate.

I shall arrange for this matter to be considered by the Administration Committee.

Terrace Refreshment Points

To ask the Chairman of the Catering Committee what discussions have taken place with the City of Westminster planning authorities about the demountable refreshment points reconstructed each year on the terrace of the Palace of Westminster.

None.

Fire Brigade Inspections

To ask the Chairman of the Accommodation and Works Committee if he will make a statement on the powers of the London Fire Brigade to inspect the Palace of Westminster; when the last inspection was; and if he will place a copy of the report in the Library.

The London Fire Brigade has no powers to inspect the Palace of Westminster, nor has it done so. It is, however, invited to the Palace to carry out periodic familiarisation visits and training. The latest of these visits took place on 19 January. Responsibility for fire safety lies with the Crown premises inspection group of the Home Office fire inspectorate, which maintains close contact with the fire safety manager of the Parliamentary Works Directorate.

Lloyd's

To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee if he has considered an application for an exhibition relating to Lloyd's, "The Heart of the London Market", to be displayed in the Upper Waiting Hall.

I understand that, under procedures agreed by the Administration Committee, arrangements have been made for the exhibition to be held in the Upper Waiting Hall from 4 to 11 May 1993.

Worldwide Engineering

To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee if he has considered an application for an exhibition relating to worldwide engineering to be displayed in the Upper Waiting Hall.

I understand that, under procedures agreed by the Administration Committee, arrangements have been made for the exhibition to be held in the Upper Waiting Hall from 10 to 17 May 1993.

Environmental Engineering

To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee if he has considered an application for an exhibition relating to environmental engineering to be displayed in the Upper Waiting Hall.

I understand that, under procedures agreed by the Administration Committee, arrangements have been made for the exhibition to be held in the Upper Waiting Hall from 21 to 28 June 1993.

Scotland

999 Calls, Dunbar

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the average time taken between a 999 telephone call from the Dunbar area and the arrival of the patient by ambulance at the accident and emergency department at the Royal infirmary in Edinburgh.

We estimate that on receipt of a 999 call it takes three minutes to activate an ambulance and 13 minutes to travel to the scene. This compares favourably with the national target response time of 18 minutes. Ambulance crews usually spend about 10 minutes at the scene and the average journey time from Dunbar to the accident and emergency department at Edinburgh royal infirmary is 39 minutes. The average total time taken is therefore 1 hour 5 minutes.

Community Care

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what advice has been given to primary care and hospital staff about the joint discharge arrangements between social work departments and health boards.

The management executive of the national health service in Scotland is in the process of producing a guide on the principles of good practice on discharge procedures in hospital. A small multidisciplinary team has prepared this guidance in a form in which it can be used through the service. The aim is to publish the guidance by week commencing 22 March and for it to be widely distributed to health boards and social work departments.

Committee Of The Regions

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what discussions he has held with the Scottish National party concerning the number of Scottish representatives in the United Kingdom delegation to the Committee of the Regions; what undertakings he has offered in relation to separate party political affiliation in its Scottish representation; what criteria he intends to employ in the selection of such representation; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend has listened with interest to the views expressed by the Opposition parties about Scotland's representation on the Committee of the Regions, including the question of how best to ensure that such representation reflects the diversity of Scottish political opinion.

Community Hospitals

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what finance and other resources are made available to general practitioner-run community hospitals by hospital in each health board.

[holding answer 4 March 1993]: The information is not held centrally.

Rule 43 Prisoners

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) men and (b) women were on rule 43 in Scottish prisons in each of the last five years.

[holding answer 2 March 1993]: The rule 43 referred to is used only in prisons in England and Wales. The nearest equivalent rule in Scottish prisons is rule 36 of the Prisons (Scotland) Rules 1952. The information is not recorded in the form requested. However, as at 2 March 1993 there were 19 male prisoners and one female prisoner held under the conditions of rule 36.

Pupils' Faiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give a breakdown by region of the faith allegiance of pupils in maintained schools and the percentage of pupils not educated in the maintained sector.

[holding answer 10 March 1993]: Regional figures on the religious affiliation of pupils in education authority schools in Scotland are not judged to be sufficiently reliable for publication because of substantial survey non-response. I will write separately to my hon. Friend on this matter.

Shetland Oil Spillage

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how and when the results of early monitoring undertaken to assess the immediate impacts of the oil spillage in the Shetland Islands on fish and shellfish will be made available.

[holding answer 5 March 1993]: Detailed weekly bulletins are being issued to fishing interests and others giving the results of monitoring in the waters around Shetland following the oil spill.

Forestry Commission

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list by county the names of and size of all Forestry Commission holdings.

[holding answer 10 March 1993]: The area of land currently managed by the Forestry Commission in each county or region is given in the table. The names and size of each individual Forestry Commission holding could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

County or Region	Area (hectares)
England
Avon	352
Bedfordshire	821

County or Region	Area (hectares)
Berkshire	517
Buckinghamshire	2,038
Cambridgeshire	682
Cheshire	950
Cleveland	493
Cornwall	3,378
Cumbria	26,508
Derbyshire	3,323
Devon	10,182
Dorset	7,042
Durham	3,340
East Sussex	2,965
Essex	797
Gloucestershire	10,405
Hampshire	34,311
Hereford and Worcester	5,052
Hertfordshire	621
Humberside	360
Isle of Wight	1,531
Kent	3,639
Lancashire	1,819
Leicestershire	669
Lincolnshire	5,634
Norfolk	14,325
Northamptonshire	4,097
Northumberland	59,336
North Yorkshire	23,058
Nottinghamshire	5,644
Oxfordshire	632
Shropshire	4,699
Somerset	4,455
South Yorkshire	1,154
Staffordshire	4,495
Suffolk	9,823
Surrey	1,636
Tyne and Wear	732
Warwickshire	639
West Midlands	84
West Sussex	4,021
West Yorkshire	112
Wiltshire	3,922
Scotland
Borders	30,862
Central	29,861
Dumfries and Galloway	101,071

	Budget allocation £	Actual expenditure £
1987–88
Voluntary sector	350,000	71,500	Rossie School
		165,000	St. Mary's School
		237,000
1988–89
Voluntary sector	69,000	69,770	Rossie
1989–90
Voluntary sector	73,000	36,600	Rossie
		21,200	St. Mary's
		57,800
1990–91
Voluntary sector	77,000	41,300	Rossie
		37,100	St. Mary's
		78,400
Local authorities	400,000	63,000	Brodie Unit (Central)
1991–92
Voluntary sector	79,000	59,100	Rossie
		60,100	St. Mary's

County or Region	Area (hectares)
Fife	4,866
Grampian	62,031
Highland	244,164
Lothian	1,635
Orkney and Shetland	9
Strathclyde	193,339
Tayside	40,403
Western Isles	867
Wales
Clwyd	9,560
Dyfed	31,628
Gwent	8,897
Gwynedd	28,144
Mid Glamorgan	13,063
Powys	31,354
South Glamorgan	518
West Glamorgan	14,534

Secure Units

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how much capital money has (a) been made available and (b) spent on the provision of secure units for young people in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement;(2) how much capital money has

(a) been made available and (b) allocated for the provision of secure units in 1992–93; and if he will publish a list of the institutions concerned and the amount of money allocated in each instance.

[holding answer 15 March 1993]: My right hon. Friend is empowered under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 to pay capital grants to local authorities and voluntary organisations for provision of secure accommodation, taking account of the need for such accommodation over Scotland. Grants made available and spent on the provision of secure accommodation for young people in each of the last five years are given in the table.

	Budget allocation £	Actual expenditure £
		119,200
Local authorities	500,000	—
1992–93
Voluntary sector	181,000	¹67,400	Rossie
		¹113,600	St. Mary's
Local authorities	150,000	¹140,000	Howdenhall Centre (Lothian)
¹Estimate.

Caledonian Macbrayne

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what grant in aid has been provided in each of the past 10 years by way of (a) the Scottish Office and (b) the European Community (i) for the maintenance of the Caledonian MacBrayne passenger ferry fleet and (ii) to provide assistance in relation to the purchase of replacement vessels.

[holding answer 16 March 1993]: The operating deficit which Caledonian MacBrayne incurs in providing a network of approved services is funded by the Scottish Office by means of an annual revenue deficit grant. CalMac has not to date received central Government grant towards the cost of new vessels although the company has received assistance from the European regional development fund for this purpose. The information requested is set out in the table:

	Revenue deficit grant £ million	ERDF grant £
1983–84	6·650	1984	2,280,000
1984–85	6·987	1985	850,000
1985–86	7·500	1986	425,000
1986–87	7·400	1987	6,270,500
1987–88	6·900	—	—
1988–89	6·540	—	—
1989–90	6·280	—	—
1990–91	5·722	—	—
1991–92	5·800	—	—
1992–93	6·050	—	—

Dysentery

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many instances of dysentery have been reported in Scotland in each year since 1988.

[holding answer 8 March 1993]: The number of cases of bacillary dysentery notified in Scotland since 1988 is as follows:

Year	Notifications
1988	196
1989	154
1990	235
1991	1,526
1992	¹3,506
¹Provisional.

Supervisory Orders

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his estimate of the cost of operating a supervisory order made by a court in Scotland.

[holding answer 15 March 1993]: Under the 100 per cent. funding arrangements the average cost of providing a community service order which involves supervised work in the community was approximately £1,150 for 1991. This is the most recent year for which information is available. Similar figures are not yet available for the cost of a supervised attendance order.

Education

Animal Schemes

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make it his policy to establish a licensing scheme for all visiting animal scheme organisers.

No.

Public Bodies

To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many appointments to the public bodies listed in "Public Bodies" for his Department were made from names supplied by the public appointments unit; and if he will list them.

It is difficult to ascribe every appointment made to this Department's public bodies to a single source. Members are appointed by the Secretary of State on the basis of their personal qualities in the light of advice from various quarters. The public appointments unit provides names of suitably qualified candidates for consideration for a wide range of appointments and is used to provide information about names suggested by others. Six appointments to this Department's public bodies which are listed in "Public Bodies" are known to have been suggested by the public appointments unit. They are:

Education Assets Board

Mr. K. Bridge
Miss A. Lees

National Youth Agency

Mrs. S. Joiner (nee Gardner)

National Curriculum Council and Schools Examination and Assessment Council

Mr. J. P. Whitehouse

Schools Examination and Assessment Council

Mr. J. Day

Visiting Committee for the Royal College of Art

Mr. D. Nicholls

Learning Disabilities

To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many facilities are available in Crewe and Nantwich for the education of children with learning disabilities.

Within the area in question Cheshire local education authority maintains one special school and 13 special units, all making provision for children with special educational needs.

Learning Disabilities

To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many facilities are available in Cheshire for the education of children with learning disabilities.

Cheshire local education authority maintains 21 special schools and 107 special units for children with special educational needs. In addition there are six non-maintained special schools in the county.

Key Stage 1 Tests

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what account will be taken in assessing and reporting the results of the key stage 1 tests for seven-year-olds of the different ages of those taking the tests.

All pupils taking the key stage 1 tests this summer should have completed the statutory programmes of study associated with the key stage. The main purpose of testing and assessment is not to rank or label children, but to identify what each child has learnt as a result of following the programmes of study in order to plan future teaching.The achievements of children who are in the final year of key stage 1 are assessed against the criteria laid down in the national curriculum and the results are reported to parents. The precise age of the child is not a factor in making the assessment, nor are results adjusted to take account of age. The Government have, however, proposed that where test results are included in school performance tables, the accompanying background information about each school should include an indication of the proportion of pupils tested who have been enrolled in primary school for fewer than six full terms.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what percentage of children who began the key stage 1 tests for seven-year-olds when these tests commenced in February were aged six at that time.

This information is not available centrally.

Schools (Vat)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make a statement on the effect of (a) opting out and (b) local management of schools on the ability of individual schools to reclaim value added tax.

When schools achieve self-governing status they become liable for VAT on supplies and services. They receive a special purpose grant in recognition of this new liability. Local management of schools does not affect the VAT position of those schools maintained by the LEA, which may reclaim any payment of VAT through the LEA.

Teachers' Pay

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the average pay of (a) primary school teachers, (b) secondary school teachers and (c) all teachers in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

In April 1992, the most recent date for which figures are available, average earnings of primary school teachers were £19,339, of secondary teachers £21,221, and of all teachers £20,498.

Schools, Penrith

To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) how many individual written responses he has received (a) for and (b) against the selection on ability of pupils at age 11 years for entry to either of the secondary schools in Penrith; and if he will make a statement;(2) what evidence he has of backing from the governors and the local community for his policy in respect of Queen Elizabeth school, Penrith.

The Education Reform Act 1988 makes provision for any 10 or more local government electors, the governing body of any school affected by the proposals and any local education authority to submit objections to my right hon. Friend to proposals such as those published by the governors of Queen Elizabeth grammar school to introduce selective admission arrangements.My right hon. Friend received 71 written responses to the proposals published by the governors of Queen Elizabeth grammar school. One of these supported the proposals; the remainder were opposed to them. No proposals concerning selection by reference to ability were published in respect of the other secondary school in Penrith.I understand that there are over 37,000 local government electors in the district of Cumbria largely served by the Penrith schools, of whom less than 3 per cent. submitted objections to the Queen Elizabeth school proposals. Of the 23 primary schools and one secondary school affected by the proposals, the governing bodies of only eight schools submitted objections.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what reports he received of the open consultation meeting held at Queen Elizabeth school, Penrith, on 29 April 1992, and of the subsequent consultation meetings with parents, staff and governors of feeder primary schools to Queen Elizabeth school; and if he will make a statement.

The governors of Queen Elizabeth grammar school submitted to my right hon. Friend two reports on the findings of their consultation exercise conducted prior to the publication of proposals to change the character of the school.

Prime Minister

Ec Directives

To ask the Prime Minister how many times the United Kingdom Government have appeared at the European Court of Justice in each of the past seven years in order to defend themselves against allegations concerning breaches of EC directives; which Departments of state were directly involved; in which of these cases the decision went against the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement.

Since 1986, 10 direct actions against the United Kingdom have been brought before the European Court of Justice by the Commission, in accordance with article 169 of the treaty of Rome, involving allegations that the United Kingdom was in breach of its obligations under EC directives. Such actions are addressed to Her Majesty's Government and not to any individual Department, but the Departments with the leading interest in the cases were:

	Number of cases
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food	1
Her Majesty's Customs and Excise	2
Department of Employment	3
Department of the Environment	2
Department of Trade and Industry	1
Department of Transport	1

Two of the cases were withdrawn before reaching judgment; in three cases the judgment has not yet been delivered. In one of the remaining cases, the court dismissed the application; in the other four the United Kingdom was held to be in breach of the relevant directives.Further details of cases brought against the United Kingdom are contained in the six-monthly White Papers on developments in the European Community, which also contain details of references to the European Court of Justice from United Kingdom courts under article 177 of the treaty.

Chessington Computer Centre

To ask the Prime Minister which Government Minister has responsibility for Chessington computer centre.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Minister of Public Service and Science, is the Government Minister with responsibility for Chessington computer centre.

Maastricht Treaty

To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his oral answer to the hon. Member for Faversham (Sir R. Moate) of 9 March, Official Report, column 782 (1) if he will list the provisions of the Maastricht treaty, as it applies to the United Kingdom delay in the implementation of which would lead to loss of foreign investment and jobs;(2) what estimate he has made of the numbers and categories of jobs which would be lost

(a) if ratification of the Maastricht treaty is delayed or (b) if the treaty is not ratified.

Various estimates have been made by and for industry of the adverse effect on our economy, inward investment and on jobs if the United Kingdom alone were to fail to ratify the treaty. Most recently the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, which represents more than 240,000 businesses, has made clear that the impact of continuing uncertainty or delay to United Kingdom ratification could only undermine business confidence, which would in turn endanger economic recovery not just here but in the rest of Europe.The treaty is an important building block of the single market. Among its provisions, early implementation of which has been welcomed by industry, are those giving tougher powers to ensure that other member states stick to their obligations, those strengthening capital liberalisation, and those reversing centralisation by introducing the concept of "subsidiarity" or national preference.

Agriculture, Fisheries And Food

Set-Aside Land

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will allow the grazing of sheep on set-aside land; and if he will make a statement.

Limited grazing of sheep is allowed under the grazed fallow option of the five-year set-aside scheme. The Commission implementing regulations prohibit all agricultural production, including grazing, on land set aside under the arable area payments scheme.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will allow the use of herbicides on set-aside land; and if he will make a statement.

The management rules for 1992–93 allow the application of non-residual herbicides by spot treatment or with a wick applicator on land set aside under the arable area payments scheme. It is also open to any grower to ask for a derogation to apply such herbicides by other methods where necessary. We intend to issue a consultation document on the management rules for future years very shortly.

Defence

Secondary Medical Care

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish the review of medical care needs for the armed forces.

I will write to the hon. Member shortly.

Trigat Programme

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the progress of the TRIGAT—third-generation anti-tank guided weapons system programme.

Development of both the medium-range and long-range TRIGAT are continuing to make good progress. A reduced-cost development programme has been implemented for the long-range TRIGAT.

Harrier Gr7

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects that the Royal Air Force will take delivery of the advanced mission planning aid for the Harrier GR7.

Towards the end of 1994.

Territorial Army

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the cost of the current series of television advertisements for the Territorial Army.

A total of £807,000 in financial year 1992–93.

Service Bands

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 5 March, Official Report, column 342, what are the percentages used to calculate the contribution to public funds by service bands in relation to net earnings; how income is apportioned between performers and individual band funds; and if he will make a statement.

The percentage of net earnings which service bands contribute to public funds from fee-paying engagements normally ranges from 5 to 10 per cent. Individual band funds receive between 5 to 20 per cent, and the musicians 65 to 75 per cent. The balance is due to the director of music and/or conductor.

Southampton University Air Squadron

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what calculations he has made of the cost of moving the flying operations of Southampton University Air Squadron from HMS Daedalus, Lee on Solent, to another location; and if he will give details.

I will write to the hon. Member shortly.

Royal Naval Engineering College

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has regarding the Royal Naval Engineering College at Manadon in Plymouth.

Our review of the future arrangements for training the services' engineer officers is continuing. The review is primarily concerned with the training currently provided at the Royal Naval Engineering College at Manadon and the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham. I hope to be able to announce the outcome shortly.

Belize

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Greenock and Port Glasgow on Wednesday 10 March, Official Report, column 572, if a board inquiry is to be convened in relation to a traffic accident in Belize in December 1992, which caused the deaths of several British soldiers; and if he will make a statement.

The circumstances of the road traffic accident referred to were investigated by the service police and considered by the Commander British Forces in Belize, who decided that a board of inquiry was not necessary.

Recruitment

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will provide a breakdown by individual Army recruiting office in the United Kingdom of (i) expenditure and (ii) the number of Army personnel recruited; and if he will make a statement;(2) what is the total expenditure on Army recruiting offices in the United Kingdom; how many Army personnel are recruited from each Army personnel centre in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement.

The available information requested is set out in the table:

Year up to 4 April 1992
Main Army Careers Information Office	Enlistments	Expenditure in financial year 1991–92 £ million
Middlesbrough	736
Newcastle	602
Hull	348
Bradford	227
Leeds	451
Sheffield	392
North East Total	2,756	3·6
Birmingham	639
Coventry	143
Shrewsbury	252
Stoke	256
Western Total	1,290	1·89
Leicester	208
Lincoln	217
Nottingham	532
Norwich	333
Cambridge	424
Southend	285
Eastern Total	1,999	2·6
Brighton	327
Canterbury	427
Reading	312
Southampton	398
South East Total	1,464	2·18
Central London	85
BAOR	123
Forest Gate	246
Surbiton	131
Wembley	121
London Total	706	1·94
Bristol	378
Bournemouth	359
Exeter	713
South West Total	1,450	1·86
Carlisle	234
Chester	304
Liverpool	560
Manchester	631

Main Army Careers Information Office	Enlistments	Expenditure in financial year 1991–92 £ million
Preston	539
North West Total	2,268	2·37
Aberdeen	122
Dundee	246
Rutland	421
Glasgow	964
Inverness	120
Scotland Total	1,873	2·67
Cardiff	448
Swansea	224
Wrexham	347
Wales Total	1,019	1·14
Belfast	411
Northern Ireland Total	411	0·53
TOTALS	15,236	20·78

Redundancies

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what specific action he intends to take in those communities to which redundant personnel will return to assist with (a) housing, (b) employment and (c) education.

Service personnel selected for redundancy are invited to say where they intend to settle when they leave. The replies from those considered for redundancy in phase 1 indicated that resettlement will be widespread across the country and that there should be no significant additional demands on local community resources. Our resettlement services provide service personnel with a wide range of advice and support on housing, employment and education matters.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has on the number of Army personnel made redundant due to "Options for Change" who have been unemployed for (a) three months or more, (b) six months or more, (c) nine months or more, (d) one year or more and (e) two years or more.

No one left the Army on redundancy before April 1992; but over 70 per cent. of those made redundant during 1992–93 have found jobs or moved overseas.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his latest estimate of the number of service men who will be made unemployed as a result of "Options for Change".

It is not possible to estimate the number of service personnel who may become unemployed as a result of "Options for Change". Over 70 per cent. of Army personnel who have left on redundancy terms during 1992–93 have found jobs or moved overseas. To date, few naval and RAF personnel selected for redundancy have left the services and it is not yet known whether they have obtained civilian employment.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is (a) the model age and (b) the average age of redundant Army personnel who are currently serving on retraining schemes; and if he will make a statement.

Information is not available in the form requested.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is (a) the model age and (b) the average age of those who are to be made redundant due to "Options for Change"; and if he will make a statement.

The model and average age of personnel who have left or who are leaving the armed forces on redundancy in phases 1 and 2 under "Options for Change" are as follows:

	Model	Average
Officers	50	45
Other ranks	36	35
Total	36	38

Similar information in respect of civilian personnel is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are the costs of retraining schemes offered to service men made redundant due to "Options for Change".

Resettlement training is provided on a tri-service basis for all those being discharged from the services and makes no distinction between redundees and those who have completed their full engagement. An extensive range of training courses is available and the courses are either conducted in-house at MOD training centres, for which no charge is made, or are run externally on a fee-paying basis by educational and training institutions throughout the United Kingdom.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assistance his Department provides to assist Army personnel in making the transition to civilian life, what special assistance is provided to personnel made redundant; and if he will make a statement.

Throughout their service life personnel are trained in skills which are directly transferable to civilian employment and receive further education leading to recognised qualifications. Prior to discharge, extensive counselling, outplacement services and retraining are provided, along with job-finding support through the services employment network. In addition to receiving enhanced financial settlement terms, redundees are eligible for the full package of resettlement briefing and training measures.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the average time period between Army personnel being made redundant and securing a place on a retraining scheme.

Resettlement training is provided to service personnel during the last six months of service. Once a date of discharge has been set—those made compulsorily redundant are given one year's notice— personnel can apply immediately for training courses. All personnel can apply for briefings in the last two years of service. In the case of redundees applications are accepted as soon as volunteers have come forward and those made compulsorily redundant are eligible to apply as soon as they have been notified.Places on briefings or training courses are allocated eight weeks before the start date. Where applications are made at shorter notice they are accepted up to three weeks beforehand where places are available.There are currently no waiting lists for career briefings or training courses. Following a higher than expected demand for job search briefings additional briefings are being provided.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the retraining budget for Army personnel made redundant due to "Options for Change"; and if he will make a statement.

Resettlement training is provided on a tri-service basis to all eligible personnel being discharged from the services. It is not possible to identify separately the costs of retraining Army personnel made redundant.

Employment

Workplace Injuries

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many (a) fatal and (b) serious injuries were caused by the use of electrical equipment in the workplace in the last 10 years.

Statistics of accidents caused by use of electrical equipment in the workplace during the last 10 years are not available in the form requested. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has extracted from the available statistics those which are most likely to refer to the use of electrical equipment; these are as follows:

Year	Fatal injuries	Serious injuries
1986–87	16	160
1987–88	17	187
1988–89	17	166
1989–90	11	178
1990–91	11	201
1991–92	14	171

Notes:

1. The table provided in this answer provides details of selected types of accidents resulting in fatal and major injuries occurring during the years 1986–87 and 1990–91 and provisional figures for 1991–92 as reported to the Health and Safety Executive's Factory and Agricultural Inspectorates, and to local authorities when they are the enforcing authority. Figures for 1991–92 also include details of reports made to the Health and Safety Executive's Quarries Inspectorate. Detailed analysis is not readily available for those injuries occurring in industries covered by other enforcing authorities or Inspectorates. The selected injuries are those where the agent of the accident is recorded as having been some kind of electrical equipment.

2. The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1985 (RIDDOR) which govern the collection of such statistics were not introduced until 1985. Statistics for earlier years would be difficult to retrieve, and would in any case not be on a comparable basis.

3. The figures in the second column refer to major injuries requiring immediate medical treatment or causing loss of consciousness.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many (a) fatal and (b) serious injuries have been caused by fires occurring in the workplace in the last 10 years.

The number of fatal and serious injuries caused by fires reported to the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) factory and agricultural inspectorates and local authorities are as follows:

Year²	Fatal	Major³
1986–87	6	142
1987–88	14	149
1988–89	10	134
1989–90	11	135
⁴1990–91	10	121
^{1 4}1991–92	9	97
¹Provisional.
²Years commencing 1 April.
³As defined under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations, 1985.
⁴Includes reports made to HSE's Quarries Inspectorate.

Note: Injuries caused by fires were not separately identified from those involving explosions prior to 1986–87.

Smoking

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will list, for each of her Department's offices, the cost of counselling provided by her Department for employees who smoke and who wish to give up the habit.

The Employment Department group has over 66,000 staff employed in a diversity of workplaces. Information on the cost of counselling for each departmental office is not held and could not be obtained without incurring a disproportionate cost. The group encourages managers to offer help to smokers who want to give up, including self-help smoking groups, organised smoking withdrawal courses, health education material, videos and audio-cassettes and cigarette substitutes.

Departmental Spending

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what share of total departmental spending was accounted for by non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1979.

Information is not available in the form requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Information on the spending of non-Departmental public bodies is contained in "Public Bodies" published each year by the Cabinet Office and in the annual appropriation accounts for the Department. Copies of these documents for each year are available in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what steps she took to reduce the production costs of her Department's expenditure plans, Cm 2205; and what steps she is taking to increase sales.

Production costs were kept to the minimum necessary to publish a document which is business like in its format and presentation, but provides the information in a way which is accessible to readers. The cost of printing, publishing and distributing the report was borne by HMSO, which aims to recover their costs from sales revenue.HMSO, as publisher, is mailing a leaflet to potential customers which will promote both individual departmental reports. The Government's expenditure plans 1993–94 to 1995–96—including Cm 2205, and the full set of reports at a special discounted price.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what changes to the aims and objectives of her Department have been made in the past year; and what effect she expects them to have on future spending plans.

The aim of the Department remains the same, but the objectives have been amended. Both can be found in the latest departmental report, a copy of which is in the Library. The report sets out how the Department's spending plans reflect the new objectives.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assumptions she has made in her Department's expenditure plans, Cm 2205, on the implementation of the public sector pay ceiling.

The Department's expenditure on pay will be constrained in accordance with the approach to public sector pay restraint announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his autumn statement and contained within the public expenditure provision already published.

Labour Statistics

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what percentage of (a) 30 to 40-year-olds, (b) 40 to 50-year-olds and (c) 50 to 60-year-olds apply for employment for (i) skilled and (ii) unskilled positions, but are not hired.

This information is not collected centrally.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people aged (a) 30 to 40 years, (b) 40 to 50 years and (c) 50 to 60 years old were dismissed in the past financial year from a job they had held for more than five years.

Information regarding those dismissed within the past financial year from a job held for more than five years is not available. The most recent available estimates relating to dismissals are given in the following table.

Labour Force Survey Summer (June to August) 1992 Great Britain (not seasonally adjusted). Persons not currently in employment who were dismissed from their last job
Age	Number
30–39	37,000
40–49	26,000
50–60	17,000

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what percentage of skilled workers aged (a) 30 to 40 years, (b) 40 to 50 years and (c) 50 to 60 years were made redundant in the last financial year.

Information relating to skilled workers by age group is not available. Total numbers made redundant by age groups in Great Britain are available from the quarterly "Labour Force Survey" which has been undertaken quarterly from spring 1992. The latest information available is from the spring and summer 1992 surveys and is as follows:

Persons made redundant
Age	Spring 1992	Summer 1992
31–40	64,974	48,121
41–50	65,194	57,726
51–60	49,816	48,710

Labour Statistics

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the latest figures for the actual and percentage rates of economically inactive adult males for each district in England and Wales; and what was the percentage change in each case since 1979.

The information requested is only available from the 1981 and 1991 censuses of population which can be obtained from the NOMIS database in the Library. Comparisons between the 1981 and 1991 censuses of population are not exact because of definitional and boundary changes.

Jobcentre, Liverpool

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many job inquiries are allowed per applicant at the Liverpool, Williamson square, jobcentre; and if she will make a statement.

Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Peter Kilfoyle, dated 17 March 1993.

As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to write to you direct to respond to your Parliamentary Question to her about how many job enquiries are allowed per applicant at Liverpool, Williamson Square, Jobcentre. This is something which falls within the responsibilities she has delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.

Between 11.30 am and 2.30 pm we arrange up to two job interviews for each jobseeker at Williamson Square Jobcentre. Outside those hours, we will arrange three or even more job interviews if the jobseeker wants us to.

These different approaches reflect the variations in the number of callers over the course of the day at Williamson Square. The office is open Monday to Thursday 9.00 am to 5.00 pm and Friday 10.00 am to 5.00 pm but it gets an unusually high concentration of callers between 11.30 am and 2.30 pm. We aim to give a good service to everyone we see and we also aim to meet the commitment under our Job Seekers Charter that no one should have to wait for more than 10 minutes before they are seen. We achieve that at Williamson Square Jobcentre by using the approach I have described.

As decided by the Administration Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.

Public Bodies

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many appointments to the public bodies listed in "Public Bodies" for her Department were made from names supplied by the public appointments unit; and if she will list them.

Since January 1991, the following 17 people have been appointed to public bodies listed in "Public Bodies" for the Employment Department from names supplied by the public appointments unit.The 17 appointments are:

Mrs. Margaret Exley—Employer Member, Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT)
Mrs. Teresa Marsland—Employee Member, Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT)
Mr. Derek Gladwin—Employee Member, Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT)
Ms Edwina Hart—Employee Member, Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT)
Mr. John Hougham—Employer Member, Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT)
Mr. Edward Fuller—Chairman: Committee for the Employment of People with Disabilities (CEPD) (Cleveland)
Mr. Paul Newton—Chairman: Committee for the Employment of People with Disabilities (CEPD) (Nottinghamshire)

Mr. Tim Pape—Chairman: Committee for the Employment of People with Disabilities (CEPD) (Wiltshire)
Mrs. Susan Marshfield—Chairman: Committee for the Employment of People with Disabilities (CEPD) (Avon)
Mr. Martyn Long—Chairman: Committee for the Employment of People with Disabilities (CEPD) (Sussex)
Mr. Alan Malcolm—Chairman: Committee for the Employment of People with Disabilities (CEPD) (Glasgow, Renfrew and Dunbarton)
Mr. Bernard Day—Chairman: Committee for the Employment of People with Disabilities (CEPD) (Gloucester)
Dr. Ann Fingret—National Advisory Council on Employment of People with Disabilities (NACEPD)
Ms Susan Scott-Parker—National Advisory Council on Employment of People with Disabilities (NACEPD)
Dr. Clive Morton—National Advisory Council on Employment of People with Disabilities (NACEPD)
Ms Cathy Ashton—National Advisory Council on Employment of People with Disabilities (NACEPD)
Mrs. Gill Rowlands—Commissioner for the Rights of Trade Union Members (CROTUM)

Departmental Costs

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the percentage planned increase in the running costs of her Department between 1992–93 and 1995–96; and what efficiency gains these plans assume.

Summary Cash Plans—Real Terms (Base year 1991–92)
£'million
	1987–88 outturn	1988–89 outturn	1989–90 outturn	1990–91 outturn	1991–92 outturn	1992–93 estimate outturn	1993–94 plans	1994–95 plans	1995–96 plans
Training
Central government's own expenditure	1,755·5	2,172·8	2,572·1	2,252·6	1,632·0	1,446·5	1,514·2	1,526·2	1,518·0
Central government support for local authorities	297·0	286·7	372·9	374·2	381·0	324·2	256·7	200·7	169·8
Total	2,053·8	2,459·4	2,945·0	2,625·7	2,012·0	1,771·7	1,771·0	1,727·0	1,687·8
Enterprise	227·0	211·6	203·2	177·5	177·0	159·2	165·2	155·5	147·0
Help for unemployed people
Central government's own expenditure	2,107·9	1,378·0	424·8	429·8	505·0	658·0	695·5	623·9	620·4
Central government support for local authorities	43·6	39·4	41·6	43·8	45·0	48·0	44·8	43·4	43·1
Total	2,150·1	1,417·3	467·5	473·6	550·0	706·0	740·3	667·3	664·4
A fair and safe environment for work	199·3	190·7	193·9	167·8	191·0	201·4	209·1	225·1	231·4
Other employment services	504·2	429·4	511·4	603·0	704·0	589·0	611·5	573·2	552·6
Credit approvals¹	1·3	1·2	1·2	1·1	1·0	1·0	·9	·9	·9
Grand total^{2 3}	5,135·8	4,709·7	4,322·2	4,048·7	3,636·0	3,428·3	3,498·0	3,350·0	3,284·9
Of which:
Central government's own expenditure	4,788·6	4,380·0	3,904·3	3,630·6	3,209·0	3,055·2	3,195·6	3,104·0	3,071·1

The percentage planned increase in the Department's running costs is shown in the following table:

Year(s)	Percentage increase
1992–93—1993–94	7·4
1993–94—1994–95	-0·5
1994–95—1995–96	0·8

The percentage planned increase over the period 1992–93—1995–96 is 7·7 per cent. The minimum efficiency savings for the Department is at least 1·5 per cent. for each financial year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will set out the information in table 1 of her Department's expenditure plans, Cm. 2205, in real terms, and make a statement on the changes made since the previous year's plans.

The following table shows table 1 of the Department's expenditure plans, CM. 2205, in real terms. Changes made to the previous year's plans include the machinery of Government changes made last April; the introduction of departmental responsibility for accruing superannuation liability payments formerly carried out on an allied service basis by the Paymaster General's Office—figures have been adjusted for all years to show comparative provision; increased receipts from the Department of Social Security to offset costs of higher numbers of unemployed people; the transfer to the Welsh Office of responsibility for delivering main training and enterprise programmes in Wales, for years 1992–93 onwards; and the 1992 public expenditure survey settlement for 1993–94 onwards as announced in the autumn statement.

1987–88 outturn

1988–89 outturn

1989–90 outturn

1990–91 outturn

1991–92 outturn

1992–93 estimate outturn

1993–94 plans

1994–95 plans

1995–96 plans

Financing requirements of public corporations

5·3

2·5

·0

Central government support for local authorities

341·9

327·3

416·8

419·1

427·0

373·1

302·5

245·9

213·8

Notes:

¹ Provision for credit approvals/net capital allocations for Wales and Scotland only. The corresponding provision for England is included within the "other services" credit approvals block which is managed by the Department of Environment.

² Excludes the amounts transferred to the Scottish Office (mainly for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise) which became responsible for delivering the main training and enterprise programmes in Scotland with effect from 1991–92, and to the Welsh which gained responsibility for delivering these programmes in Wales from 1992–93.

³ The expenditure is partly financed by receipts from the European Social Fund.

Table prepared using Autumn Statement deflators published 12 November 1992.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what price deflation her Department uses in planning public expenditure.

When planning public expenditure the Department does so on a cash basis.

Performance Indicators

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment to what extent the performance indicator and output measures in use in her Department take account of quality of output and services as distinct from quantity.

The Department has a wide range of performance indicators and output measures to support the delivery of its programmes. These include quantitative measures; for example, numbers of people helped; and qualitative measures, for example, national vocational qualifications gained and delivery and speed of benefit payments.Additionally, under the citizens charter, the Department has developed and published standards which the public can expect of its services. Performance data are already provided on many of the standards and targets set in the ED group's various charter documents.The Department has also developed customer surveys to measure customer satisfaction levels the results of which are used wherever practicable to inform improvements to the way in which services are delivered.

High Technology Training

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assessment she has made of the effect on new university graduates of the new six months' unemployment qualification for courses under the training for work scheme, with reference to the starting dates of high technology training courses.

The new training for work arrangements are focused on longer-term unemployed people where the need for help is known to be greatest. Graduates who wish to take up further training before they have been unemployed for six months may wish to apply for a career development loan.

Overhead Railway Cables

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many deaths and serious injuries have resulted from electrical arcing from overhead railway cables in the United Kingdom in the last five years.

I have been asked to reply.The numbers of deaths and serious injuries resulting from contact with overhead line equipment is as follows:

	Fatalities	Serious injuries
Staff
1991–92¹	1	1
1990	—	3
1989	—	3
1988	1	—
1987	2	3
Trespassers
1991–92²	1	14
1990	5	14
1989	7	10
1988	2	8
1987	4	10
Totals	23	66
¹Covers period 1 April 1991 to 31 March 1992. Details for 1 January 1991 to 31 March 1991 have not been published.
²Covers period 1 January 1991 to 31 March 1992.

Northern Ireland

English Language

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in each of the last five years how many students at further education colleges in Northern Ireland have (a) sat for the Cambridge first certificate in English examination and how many achieved grade C or above, (b) sat for the Cambridge proficiency in English examination and how many achieved grade C or above and (c) sat for other examinations in English as a foreign language.

Information is available only from 1989. The figures are as follows:

	1989	1990	1991	1992
(a) Cambridge first certificate in English examination
Numbers sitting	45	24	29	30
Numbers achieving grade C or above	21	16	18	16
(b) Cambridge proficiency in English examination
Numbers sitting	29	23	12	14
Numbers achieving grade C or above	20	15	8	7

	1989	1990	1991	1992
(c) Other Cambridge examinations in English as a foreign language
Numbers sitting	41	65	82	41
Numbers achieving grade C or above	32	55	61	30

Information is not available for students who sat for examinations in English as a foreign language other than those set by Cambridge university.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many students have enrolled at colleges of further education in Northern Ireland for courses in English as a foreign language in each of the last five years; and how many students were male and how many were female.

The information is as follows:

	Males	Females	Total
1988–89	79	94	173
1989–90	95	127	222
1990–91	58	97	155
1991–92	77	88	165
1992–93	61	104	165

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which further education colleges in Northern Ireland offer courses in English as a foreign language.

Courses in English as a foreign language are currently being offered in Belfast, Omagh, Ballymena, Coleraine, Lisburn, Down, Newcastle, Castlereagh, North Down and Ards, Lurgan and Armagh colleges of further education.

Further Education

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the teacher-pupil ratio at further education colleges in Northern Ireland for (a) all courses and (b) courses in English as a foreign language.

The student:staff ratio for further education colleges in Northern Ireland was 13.2:1 in the academic year 1991–92. This figure is provisional, pending audit. Information about the student:staff ratio for courses in English as a foreign language is not available.

Ethnic Minorities

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the ethnic minority population in Northern Ireland; how many of these are children of school age; and how many of these are children of pre-school age.

There is no detailed information available on the ethnic population of Northern Ireland, though some studies have suggested a total in the region of 10,000. Information on the number of children is not available.

Department Of Finance And Personnel

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the work of the Department of Finance and Personnel since 1979.

The Department of Finance and Personnel came into being in 1982 on the merger of functions of the former Departments of the Civil Service and Finance. The main aims of DFP are to deploy and manage the financial resources allocated to Northern Ireland; to give guidance and advice on personnel policy and practice within the Northern Ireland civil service; and to carry out the Government's public sector reform initiatives, in particular the citizens charter.DFP is responsible for the presentation of Northern Ireland estimates to Parliament and monitoring public expenditure throughout the year. Public expenditure under the control of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has increased from £2,489 million in 1979–80 to £7,092 million in 1992–93, an increase in real terms of 18 per cent.The Department is also responsible for the regional rate. DFP co-ordinates EC structural fund assistance to Northern Ireland. The region continues to be recognised as having objective 1 status within the European Community and DFP is currently preparing a submission for the use of structural funds for the period 1994–99.In relation to Northern Ireland civil service personnel policy and practice, DFP continues to promote equality of opportunity in accordance with fair employment legislation and the 1984 Northern Ireland civil service equal opportunities policy statement. Goals for increasing the representation of Roman Catholics—25 per cent. by 1996—and women—10 per cent. by 1998—at grades 5 and above have recently been announced.Following the Chancellor's statement in July 1991, new long-term pay agreements have been put in place for all non-industrial staff with increasing emphasis on performance pay. DFP has also prepared draft legislation corresponding to the Civil Service (Management Functions) Act 1992 which will allow greater delegation of personnel functions to NI Departments and agencies.In 1991, a unit was set up in DFP to co-ordinate implementation of the citizens charter in NI. Apart from the main NI charter, eight other charters have been published and DFP has a continuing role to monitor performace against published standards.DFP co-ordinates and takes forward the Government's market-testing programme and its plans for the establishment of executive agencies in Northern Ireland. In 1991, DFP market tested its mainframe computer bureau service and awarded a contract to a private sector facilities management company to which 110 civil servants transferred. Six executive agencies have already been created with a further three to be launched in April 1993. These account for some 9,000—30 per cent. of total—NI civil servants. DFP's first agency—the Valuation and Lands Agency—is due to be launched this year.The Government Purchasing Service, formerly the Central Unit on Purchasing (NI), operates within DFP and performs a purchasing advisory and monitoring function. In 1991–92 the unit assisted Departments to achieve new value for money savings of £8·2 million on a total spend of £270 million. DFP maintains an up-to-date valuation list for Northern Ireland and provides a comprehensive property advice and agency service to the public sector.

Water

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what has been the full cost of the asset management plan for the water service in Northern Ireland; what has been the cost of the appointment of private consultants; and when the plan is expected to be completed.

The full cost of the Water Executive's asset management plan to date has been £2·27 million. Of this, some £0·74 million has been paid to the AMP consultants. It is expected that the present phase of the asset management plan will be completed by March 1994.

Water Privatisation

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what level of cost benefit analysis has taken place in relation to the proposed privatisation of the water service; and if he will make a statement.

None. The Government believe, however, that privatisation of water and sewerage services in Northern Ireland will provide substantial benefits to consumers and taxpayers in the form of increased efficiencies and improved standards. This will be achieved through the introduction of commercial discipline and private sector skills.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the current timescale for the privatisation of the water service in Northern Ireland.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the statement made by my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State on 15 July 1992, Official Report, col. 754.

Health

Human Fertilisation And Embryology Act

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the orders arising from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 which have been laid, with dates, together with details of those orders which remain to be laid, with reasons for their delay in each case.

The following orders have arisen from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 as amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Disclosure of Information) Act 1992:

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (Commencement No. 1) Order 1990. Made 2 November 1990.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional Provision) Order 1991. Made 4 March 1991.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitional Provision) Order 1991. Made 16 June 1991.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (Commencement No. 4 and Transitional Provision) Order 1991. Made 31 July 1991.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Special Exemptions) Regulations 1991, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 43(1) of the Act. Laid—9 July 1991; Came into force—1 August 1991.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Statutory Storage Period) Regulations 1991, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 14(5) of the Act. Laid—11 July 1991; Came into force—1 August 1991.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (Licence Committee and Appeals) Regulations 1991, in exercise of the powers conferred by Sections 9(5) and 10 of the Act. Laid—21 July 1991; Came into force—29 August 1991.

Regulations under section 30 of the Act, relating to the granting of parental orders in surrogacy cases, will be laid as soon as possible. For a report on progress with these regulations I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to his question regarding this matter. There are no plans at this time to introduce regulations under section 31(4)(a) of the Act, which concerns information relating to gamete donors.In addition, the 1990 Act provides for regulations to be made under sections 3(3)(c) and 4(2) of the Act, allowing for the prohibition of techniques; schedule 2, sections 1(1)(g) and 3(2), allowing for the licensing of techniques not previously covered by the Act; and also under section 1(2)(6G) of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Disclosure of Information) Act 1992, allowing for additional exceptions to the restrictions on the disclosure of information. These powers are available for use if changed circumstances make this desirable.We have today laid before the House the Access to Health Records (Control of Access) Regulations 1993 which preclude access under the Access to Health Records Act 1990 to any part of a health record which would identify a person born as a result of "treatment services" under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the reasons for the delays in laying the parental orders arising from section 30 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990; and whether she will make it her policy that they are laid before Easter.

The preparation of the regulations and rules of court required under section 30 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act has proved to be a complex undertaking. Draft regulations should be ready for public consultation next month. Subject to the outcome of this consultation, the Government propose to lay regulations as soon as possible.

Cancer (Nuclear Industry)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what monitoring Her Majesty's Government are undertaking or funding as a follow-up to the findings of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund's cancer epidemiology unit's survey of the impact of parents' job histories in the nuclear industry on the health of children.

The findings of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund study have been referred to the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) for advice, which will be published when available. A major study investigating the occurrence of all cancers and the incidence of other illnesses and conditions that could have a genetic cause among children of workers in the nuclear industry is already under way. It is being jointly funded by the Health and Safety Executive and the Department of Health.

Health Authority Personnel

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make it her policy to restrict gifts which staff, directors and chairmen of health authorities and trusts are permitted to accept to diaries and calendars.

The standards of business conduct expected from all national health service staff, including advice on the acceptance of gifts and hospitality, are set out in "Health Service Guidelines", HSG(93)5, a copy of which is available in the Library.

Fund Holders

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what requirement there is for general practitioner fund holders to open their annual accounts to the public.

General practitioner fund holder audited annual accounts are public documents.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 1 March, Official Report, column 32, if she will now ensure that information is held centrally of general practitioner fund holders in each region which have exhausted their budgets.

Regional health authorities have responsibility for managing the scheme and monitoring all fund holder budgets regularly. I have no plans to duplicate this responsibility centrally.

Drugs (Limited List)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many new products have been developed in the therapeutic categories already on the limited list.

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Moray (Mrs. Ewing) on 9 February at column 617.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will place in the Library a list of the names of each product in each of the 10 therapeutic categories to be included in the selected list.

Decisions on which products are to be added to schedule 10 of the National Health Service (General Medical Services) Regulations 1992, which are no longer prescribable under the NHS, will based on the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on NHS Drugs. I understand that the committee has not yet decided which products it will be formally considering in each of the ten new therapeutic categories.

Redbridge And Waltham Forest Dhas

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the proposed timetable for the merger of the Redbridge and Waltham Forest district health authorities; and if she will outline the statutory procedure which such a merger is required to follow.

The merger of the Redbridge and Waltham Forest district health authorities is included in the National Health Service (District Health Authorities) Order 1993 and the National Health Service (Determination of Districts) Order 1993 which were laid before the House on 11 March. Both orders are effective from 1 April 1993. No other statutory procedures are needed to effect the merger.Formal consultation took place from 1 September to 30 November 1992 on the proposal to merge the authorities. On 3 March, I announced our decision to merge the two authorities and to appoint Ms Delva Patman as chairman of the new Redbridge and Waltham Forest district health authority.

Perioperative Deaths

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the rate of perioperative deaths in respect of operations carried out by (a) junior doctors and (b) consultants in England.

This information is not available centrally. In 1990 there were an estimated 3,112,396 episodes of in-patient care involving surgical procedures. Of these, an estimated 23,816 deaths occurred in hospital within 30 days of an operation.

Registration Of Death

To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what basis a medical practitioner may set the level of his charge for registering a person as dead, and giving the cause of death; and what is the maximum charge which may be levied.

Medical practitioners are required by the Birth and Deaths Registration Act 1953 to supply a certificate free of charge to the registrar, giving notification of a person's death.

Drug Costs

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much of the increase in the drugs bill for 1992–93 relative to 1991–92 is due to (a) increased costs charged by the drugs companies, (b) increases in the numbers of prescriptions, (c) general practitioners prescribing different and more expensive drugs, (d) the cost of diphasics and triphasic drugs in fees paid to pharmacists or (e) drugs being used to replace surgery.

Expenditure on drugs by the family health services in England is expected to increase by about 14 per cent. in cash terms in 1992–93. Whilst prescription numbers are likely to increase by more than 4 per cent. in 1992–93, no information is yet available on the other factors which contribute to the rise in the drugs bill.The cost of pharmacists' dispensing fees does not form part of the drugs bill. Information on drugs being used to replace surgery is not available centrally.

Parental Leave Allowances

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are maternity and paternity leave allowances for NHS staff; and what are the maternity and paternity leave allowances for NHS staff who adopt children.

Staff who satisfy certain qualifying criteria are entitled to a maximum of 52 weeks maternity leave. Staff may also be eligible for paternity and adoption leave in accordance with arrangements determined locally.

Gp Patient Registration

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what guidelines are in force for the registration by general practitioners of people who have no fixed address;(2) what plans she has to issue guidelines requiring general practitioners to take on any patient requesting registration and living in their practice area when the list is closed and notified as such to the family health service authority.

We have no plans to issue such guidelines.All patients, including people who have no fixed address, have the right to be registered with a general practitioner. This is reaffirmed in the patients charter.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has of the total number of people by region who have not registered with a general practitioner.

This information is not available centrally.

Health Care Spending

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is the average amount spent on health care per person in each European Community country;(2) what is the average amount spent on health care per person in each of the G7 countries.

Total expenditure on the national health service in the United Kingdom is planned to be £37·6 billion in 1993–94, equivalent to £649 per head of population.Figures for other EC and G7 countries are not available on a comparable basis.

Named Nurses

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what meaning is attached to the concept of the named nurse in the patients charter; and if it is permissible for hospitals to meet this charter standard by designating a ward sister as the named nurse.

The named nurse standard is intended to ensure the continuity of and individual responsibility for patient care. It encourages partnership between the qualified nurse, or midwife or health visitor, and the patient so that care plans can be developed on a joint basis.There are a variety of nursing methods in operation which can be adapted for use in applying the named nurse standard. In the small number of places where an appropriate scheme is not yet in use, ward sisters are allowed to operate as named nurses as an interim measure. The national health service management executive expects to publish a good practice guide to named nursing in June.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses who achieved their basic qualification before 30 September in each year since 1987 were (a) in post in the NHS, (b) undertaking further training in the NHS and (c) not employed in the NHS one year after qualification.

This information is not available centrally.

Trade And Industry

Gatt

11.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will take steps to bring about a swift agreement to the GATT arrangements.

I am in regular contact with progress on the GATT Uruguay round. I assure my hon. Friend that this Government will continue to do everything possible to bring the round to a successful conclusion.

24.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the current negotiations on the general agreement on tariffs and trade and the incorporation of the terms of the multi-fibre arrangement.

During his visit to Washington, the Prime Minister had very positive discussions with President Clinton on the Uruguay round. The President confirmed his support for a successful conclusion to the Uruguay round and that he will be seeking a renewal of the fast-track authority. This is to be welcomed and we hope that negotiations will resume in Geneva. A successful conclusion to the round would include an agreement on international trade in textiles and clothing which would result in a 10-year phase-out of quantitative restrictions maintained under the multi-fibre arrangement.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade when he next expects to meet his United States counterpart to discuss issues of world trade and the conclusions of the GATT round.

My right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade expects to meet Mr. Kantor, the United States trade representative, when he visits London at the end of this month.

North America

15.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade how much of British overseas trade is with North America.

Around 13 per cent. of United Kingdom visible exports go to north America. A similar proportion of our imports come from north America. My Department has recently launched a campaign aimed at increasing the United Kingdom's share of imports by north American markets.

Industrial Competitiveness Division

21.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps he is taking to spread the information gathered by the industrial competitiveness division through the sectors of industry.

The industrial competitiveness division advises me on ways in which Government policies generally can promote the competitiveness of British industry.The DTI's regional offices, sector divisions, and—once they are established—the one-stop shops, have a vital role in communicating these policies to industry, and in listening to industry's views.

Lorry And Van Production

22.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the prospects for lorry and van production in the United Kingdom.

Future prospects are excellent as a result of the Government's long-term commitment to helping United Kingdom manfucturing companies succeed in world markets by creating the domestic climate within which the commercial vehicle and other industries can thrive.

European Structural Fund

23.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps he is taking to introduce transparency of accounting measures in relation to receipts from the European structural fund.

From 1 April the Government will be implementing new arrangements to make available automatically public expenditure cover to account in full for forecast receipts from the European regional development fund.

Travel Companies (Liabilities)

25.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps he is taking to ensure that all travel companies have sufficient bonds to cover their liabilities to package holidaymakers.

The Package Travel Regulations 1992 require all operators of packages to be able to provide sufficient evidence of security for the protection of money paid over in the event of insolvency. The enforcement of the regulations is the responsibility of local authority trading standards departments.

One-Stop Shops

26.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what progress has been made in the proposal to establish one-stop shops for the co-ordination of business support and enterprise.

A total of 57 partnerships have submitted bids for funding pilot one-stop shops. A shortlist of 20 have been interviewed by an assessment panel of business men and representatives of TECs, chambers of commerce and other small firms organisations. I intend to announce the winning bids as soon as possible.

Manufacturing Industry

27.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade when he last met representatives of the Engineering Employers Federation to discuss DTI assistance for manufacturing industry.

My right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade met representatives of the Engineering Employers Federation on 16 February to discuss the federation's proposals for industrial strategy, which include recommendations to improve the competitive performance of British firms.

Aerospace Industries

28.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what discussions he has had with his American counterpart about the aerospace industries.

My right hon. Friend has had no direct discussions on this subject with his counterparts in the new United States Administration. However, contacts have continued at official level and through the European Commission on matters of mutual interest.

Miners (Wages)

29.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade how much British Coal has paid in wages to miners who have attended collieries and been refused work since 13 October 1992; and if he will make a statement.

This is a matter for British Coal.

Manufactured Goods

30.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on Britain's trade in manufactured goods.

The volume of United Kingdom exports of manufactures in 1992 was 69 per cent. higher than a decade earlier. Detailed statistics on United Kingdom trade in manufactures are regularly published in the "Monthly Review of External Trade Statistics", which is available in the Library of the House.

Industrial Trends (Europe)

31.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade when he last attended a Council of Ministers meeting to discuss industrial trends within Europe.

I chaired the meeting of the Council of Industry Ministers during the UK Presidency of the EC on 24 November 1992. The meeting discussed a wide range of industrial issues, including Commission ideas on restructuring the Community steel industry and Community policy on small and medium-sized enterprises.

Whale Products

32.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what whale products have been imported into the United Kingdom during the past 12 months.

Information on whale imports is not available. The United Kingdom trade classification does not separately indentify whale products from products derived from other mammals.

Railway Rolling Stock

33.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps his Department is taking to promote the export of British-built railway rolling stock.

The full range of export services provided by my Department is available to British rolling stock manufacturers. For example, we have supported British bids for the Canton metro by providing substantial financial assistance with bidding costs, have an official working full time on the project and are supporting a very attractive financing offer.

Coal Industry

34.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade when he expects to make a statement on the future of the coal industry.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to my earlier answer to the hon. Gentleman for Rother Valley (Mr. Barron).

36.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what recent discussions he has had with British Coal about the impact of the Government's energy policy review on the coal industry.

Since establishing the coal review, I have held a number of discussions with British Coal about the issues under consideration.

Torture And Execution Equipment

35.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade when he next plans to meet representatives of Amnesty International to discuss the export of equipment used for torture and execution.

I have no plans to meet Amnesty International. When he was Minister for Trade, my right hon. Friend the current Minister for Industry gave the organisation a very full reply to its report on this matter.

Exporters

37.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on support given to British exporters.

The Government are wholly committed to helping more United Kingdom firms to compete effectively in international markets. This is demonstrated by the broad package of advice, information and assistance available to exporters from the Government.

European Steel Industry

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the restructuring of the European steel industry.

EC Ministers have agreed a package of measures to assist restructuring based on a voluntary programme of capacity reductions.Since the United Kingdom industry has already undergone substantial restructuring and rationalisation, I would expect future capacity reductions predominantly in other EC countries.

Relocation

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what information he has on the number of companies which have relocated from Great Britain to the Republic of Ireland in the last three years.

Information about the number of companies which have relocated from Great Britain to the Republic of Ireland in the last three years is not readily available.

Import Substitution

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on his strategy for encouraging import substitution.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave him on 5 March, Official Report, column 350.

Nuclear Industry

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what consideration in respect of his competition responsibilities he has given to BNFL's position in the market for Magnox nuclear fuel services in relation to its ability to secure contracts for reprocessing Nuclear Electric's AGR spent fuel.

I have not specifically considered this. Under competition legislation, the Director General of Fair Trading is responsible for investigating possible monopoly situations and anti-competitive practices.

Working Practices

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment he has made of the impact of United Kingdom working practices on the competitiveness of British industry.

Many factors affect the competitiveness of British industry, including working practices. In order to be competitive, industry needs a labour market which is flexible. One of the key aims of this Government is therefore to encourage greater flexibility in the labour market, for example by lifting the burdens on employers who wish to take on labour and encouraging the abolition of restrictive labour practices. Reforms of industrial relations and trade union law have helped to correct previous imbalances of power between unions and employers and to introduce more democratic procedures into unions. Greater flexibility has been introduced into pay bargaining arrangements. The unemployed are being helped to compete effectively in the labour market and to provide industry with the skills it needs. My Department will continue to work closely with the Department of Employment to ensure that British industry continues to benefit from these reforms.

European Coal And Steel Community Reserves

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what discussions he has had with the member of the European Commission responsible for regional affairs concerning the utilisation of European Coal and Steel Community reserves when the ECSC is wound up; and if he will make a statement.

None, but the future of ECSC financing activities, including use of the reserves, was among subjects discussed at the November 1992 Industry Council attended by Vice President Bangemann and chaired by my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade at which I represented the United Kingdom.

Electronic Equipment Recycling

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what recent meetings he has had with the Industry Council for Electronic Equipment Recycling; and what recent representations he has received from it.

A director of my Department's environment division spoke at the launch of ICER in October last year, and has since corresponded with the organisation's chairman. Before that, officials in the division were closely involved in the CEST study which preceded the setting up of ICER, and also commissioned from the Department's Warren Spring laboratory a major study of electronic scrap recycling.

Iraq And Iran (Export Controls)

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what recent communication he or officials of his Department have had with the United States department of commerce's bureau of export administration in regard to implementation of export controls to (a) Iraq and (b) Iran.

None so far this year relating specifically to these destinations.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what meetings Ministers or officials of his Department have had with the subgroup of nuclear export co-ordination of the United States bureau of oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs in regard to export control policy for (a) Iraq and (b) Iran.

None.

Uranium

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will request the United Kingdom Permanent Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna to seek to obtain documentation produced by the agency on the levels of safety applied to the Rössing uranium mine in Namibia in the production of uranium exported to the United Kingdom.

No. The final report of the expert mission to the Rössing uranium mine is in confidence between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Government of Namibia.

Departmental Spending

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what percentage share of total departmental spending was accounted for by non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1979.

The percentage share of total departmental expenditure accounted for by grants to executive non-departmental public bodies by the DTI and the Department of Energy was as follows:

	Per cent.
1982–83	9·6
1983–84	9·5
1984–85	5·8
1985–86	11·4
1986–87	2·2
1987–88	4·6
1988–89	3·9
1989–90	1·1
1990–91	1·6
1991–92	1·2

Figures for earlier years are not available.

Silk Textiles

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what progress has been made in agreeing harmonised European Community rules on imports of silk textiles from state trading countries under autonomous arrangements; what interim measures he has taken in the meantime; and what representations he has received about the need for rapid agreement on a definitive solution.

The European Community has not yet managed to agree harmonised rules for imports of silk textiles from state-trading countries for 1993 and onwards. In the interim, and following representations from a number of trade associations and commercial interests, the United Kingdom has provisionally rolled over into 1993 the national arrangements that were in force in 1992 but has applied them on a quarterly basis.

Wave Energy

To ask the President of the Board of Trade when he expects to publish the final report of the review of wave energy.

The report "A Review of Wave Energy"—ETSU-R-72, was published on 17 December 1992 and copies placed in the Library of the House.

Car Dealership Franchises

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what action he has taken to implement the recommendations of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission on ending trade restraints built into car dealership franchises.

In May 1992, my right hon. Friend invited the Director General of Fair Trading to negotiate with the car suppliers with a view to obtaining undertakings to implement the recommendations contained in the Monopolies and Mergers Commission's report on the supply of new motor cars in the United Kingdom. The Director General has concluded that satisfactory undertaking on all of the Commission's recommendations could not be obtained from all the suppliers. My right hon. Friend is currently considering options for taking further action on this report.

Business Names Act

To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 26 February, Official Report, column 776, with which (a) educational bodies and (b) other bodies he corresponded before approving the use of the name Somerset University under the Business Names Act 1985.

There was no correspondence between the Secretary of State and any educational or other bodies before the name was approved. The name was approved on the basis that there was evidence that it had been in use prior to 1 January 1983 when the regulations controlling the use of the word university came into force. Consequently there was no requirement to consult any other bodies before approving the name.

Manufacturing Exports

To ask the President of the Board of Trade which five manufacturing industries have been the largest exporters in each United Kingdom region in each year since 1985.

Analysis of export statistics by United Kingdom region are not available.

Assisted Areas

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will take account of the level of economically inactive adult males when determining assisted area status; and if he will make a statement.

The consultation paper for the assisted areas map review jointly issued by the Welsh and Scottish Offices and my Department in June last year set out the criteria for designation. This stated that statistical measures of unemployment would be the major components in the review. A number of other factors to be taken into account was also listed in the paper. These included activity rates.

Coal Imports

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is his estimate of the price paid during the last quarter of 1992 for steam coal imported into the United Kingdom from (a) Colombia, (b) Poland, (c) Germany, (d) the CIS, (e) South Africa and (f) the United States of America; and what was the cost of similar coal produced by British Coal deep mines.

The average price paid for steam coal imported into the United Kingdom during the last quarter of 1992 was as follows.

Country of origin	Cost per tonne¹ £
Colombia	31
Poland	54
Germany	46
Former USSR	28
South Africa	32
United States of America	36

Source: HM Customs and Excise.

¹ Includes the cost of insurance and freight.

Comparable information for steam coal produced in the United Kingdom is not held centrally.

Ec Funds

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on his discussions with Commissioner Millan on additionality and bringing matching European funds to the United Kingdom.

As agreed with the Commission the treatment of receipts from the European regional development fund in the United Kingdom's public expenditure system will be made more transparent. From 1 April public expenditure cover will be made available automatically and in full for all forecast receipts.Commissioner Millan wrote on 8 February seeking assurance that full arrangements will be in place to implement the agreement. He has been so assured.

China

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps he is taking to improve trade with China.

A much stronger United Kingdom commercial presence in China is a high priority for my Department. I have visited China three times since last July. There is growing United Kingdom business interest in the massive opportunities in that market, for profitable infrastructure, machinery, consumer goods and services business. We are carrying out a programme of activities with British business to help to improve the United Kingdom's performance, targetting in particular major projects, small and medium-sized United Kingdom exporters and the services sector, including retailing and distribution.

Import Substitution

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make it his policy, in association with representatives of British manufacturing industry, to seek to establish a task force on import substitution in order to identify areas in which such substitution is feasible.

[holding answer 9 March 1993]: Government activities which seek to discriminate in favour of United Kingdom producers against exporters from other Community member states are precluded by the treaty of Rome. Nevertheless, my Department is continually working to assist United Kingdom firms to exploit market opportunities at home and abroad. The recent fall in the value of the pound against the currency of our major competitors provides plenty of scope for United Kingdom businesses to gain a larger share of the domestic market.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement providing details of those initiatives which have been taken by his Department in order to identify areas in which import substitution is a feasible option; if he will list the categories of goods which have so far been identified by those initiatives; and what action he has taken to draw each area of potential import substitution to the attention of British manufacturers.

[holding answer 9 March 1993]: My Department is continually working to assist United Kingdom firms to identify market opportunities both at home and abroad. In particular, the new DTI sector divisions work closely with their industries to help business take advantage of the opportunities created by the recent fall in the value of sterling. Her Majesty's Customs and Excise provides the names and addresses of United Kingdom importers for each classification of imported goods through appointed marketing agents.

Ec Maritime Policy

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what discussions he has had with his European counterparts on the development of a new maritime policy for the Community; and if he will make a statement.

I have been asked to reply.

The report of the maritime forum, which dealt with all aspects of maritime policy, was presented to a meeting of Industry Ministers chaired by my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade on 24 November last year.

Malaysia

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement about the soft loan which the United Kingdom is making to Malaysia to help pay for the international airport near Kuala Lumpur.

I have been asked to reply.

We have told the Malaysian Government that we are setting aside a sum of up to £42 million of grant finance from the aid and trade provision budget to be used in association with export credits for contracts which may be awarded to British companies of up to £120 million worth of United Kingdom goods and services for the planned new international airport outside Kuala Lumpur. A firm financial commitment to support the project is subject to completion of the Overseas Development Administration's and the Export Credits Guarantee Department's usual appraisal procedures and to consulting OECD partners in accordance with the recent international agreement in the use of tied aid credits.

Volume 221: debated on Wednesday 17 March 1993

Written Answers To Questions

National Heritage

Fire Precautions

Television Licences

Concessionary Television Licences

Museums (Security Vetting)

Television Programmes

Departmental Spending

Local Authority Services

National Finance

Bcci

Insider Dealing

Trade Gap

Motor Cars

Imf

Companies

Mortgage Tax Relief

Attorney-General

Sentencing

Northumberland Beagling Festival

Lord Chancellor's Department

Child Abduction

Overseas Development

Poverty Alleviation

Developing Countries

International Development Association

Peru

Home Department

Medomsley Detention Centre

Child Pornography

Immigration Appeals

Entry Refusals

John Ryan

Immigration Officers

Firearms

Castington Young Offenders Institution

Market Testing

Secure Training Units

Young Offenders

Child Abduction

Regulations

Immigration

Entry Visas

Foreign And Commonwealth Affairs

European Armaments Agency

Kosovo

Yugoslavia

Child Abduction

Western European Union

Nuclear Defence

Palestine Liberation Organisation

Israel

River Danube

Arms Limitation Agreements

Macedonia

Greece And Turkey

Serbia And Montenegro

Brussels Treaty

Overseas Missions

Departmental Officers (Travel)

Wales

Empty Properties

Food Poisoning

Rechem International Ltd

Heads Of The Valleys Authority

Mental Hospitals

Capital City Status Study (South Glamorgan)

Public Bodies

Regional Assistance

Transport

Tankers

Railway Investment

Public Bodies

Plutonium

Shipping (Sewage)

Channel Tunnel Rail Link

Swanage Railway

Heathrow Airport