To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans he has to modernise the law regarding shop leases in particular with regard to original tenant liability.

As I announced in my answer on 31 March to my hon. Friend the Member for High Peak (Mr. Hendry), Official Report, column 197, the Government have, after careful consideration, decided to implement the recommendations in the Law Commission's report on Landlord and Tenant Law: Privity of Contract and Estate (Law Com. No. 174), for future leases but not for existing leases. The necessary legislation, which will apply to all leases including shop leases, will be introduced as soon as there is a suitable opportunity.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether the remit of the Local Government Commission includes making recommendations on changes in intervals for elections and on the creation of single-member wards; and whether such proposals could be implemented by statutory order alone.

The policy guidance to the Local Government Commission for England, revised November 1993, invites the Commission, where it recominends structural changes, also to make recommendations about future electoral arrangements, including warding, number of councillors and electoral cycles.Such proposals could be implemented only by statutory order.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will bring forward proposals to base local authority debt charge standard spending assessments on 1990–91 adjusted credit ceilings; and if he will make a statement on the discrepancies between the current notional debt figure and actual debt charge spending.

We are at present considering the various representations which have been received in the course of the review of SSAs, including those for changes to the capital financing SSA, which were also discussed with the local authority associations.The Secretary of State will announce his proposals for the distribution of revenue support grant for 1994–95 shortly. The announcement will include any proposals for the calculation of the capital financial element of SSAs for 1994–95. There will follow, as in previous years, a period of consultation.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he plans to take following the publication of the report of the working party on the internal management of local authorities in England, entitled "Community Leadership and Representation: Unlocking the Potential".

We are continuing to discuss the issues constructively with local government and will announce decisions as they are taken.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what new initiatives he is taking to promote energy efficiency for (a) households and (b) businesses; and what is his latest estimate of the expenditure involved in each of the above.

On 26 July, my right hon. Friend announced the Government's proposals for completing Britain's CO, programme. The main energy efficiency elements include strengthening the Energy Efficiency Office's programmes of advice and information aimed at business, increasing the target for combined heat and power to 5,000 MW by the year 2000, increasing the resources devoted to the provision of information and encouragement to house-holds, and reinforcing the work of the Energy Saving Trust. The EEO's budget to run its existing programmes and take forward these proposals in 1993–94 is £69·1 million.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much was spent of the £750 million made available by the Treasury at the time of the November 1992 autumn statement to buy up empty owner-occupied properties before the end of the financial year 1992–93; how much of the total was spent by local authorities and how much by housing associations; and how much of this money has subsequently been clawed back by the Treasury through reductions in funds made available by central Government for investment in housing.

On 12 November 1992 the Secretary of State announced a £627 million programme to boost the housing market. Housing associations in England spent £577·14 million to purchase new, empty and repossessed homes to use for families in housing need and £19·86 million by giving cash incentives to associations' tenants to buy homes on the open market. Local authorities in England spent a total of £29·94 million for similar cash incentives for their own tenants.These funds were made available and fully spent in 1992–93; the resources available for future years are determined annually in the public expenditure survey discussions.A further £123 million was divided between Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for similar housing measures and other capital projects, for which respective Secretaries of States were responsible.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on the Civil Service college.

We have now completed an evaluation of the Civil Service College as a next steps executive agency and considered its future. I have today placed a copy of the evaluation report in the Libraries of both Houses.The college has had four very successful years since becoming an agency in 1989. Agency status within central Government has helped the college to provide top quality senior management and professional training focused on the particular needs of the civil service at a time of considerable change. We have concluded that this remains the best approach for a further period.We shall continue to seek improvements in the college's operation and will review it again in four years under the normal procedures for executive agencies. In particular, we have decided to put the college on to a fully commercial footing by phasing out the central payment of £1·8 million a year from the Office of Public Service and Science. From 1995–96 the college will be required fully to cover its costs by revenue from its operations. In addition we are mounting a study of the college's suitability for trading fund status.We are now reviewing the framework document of the college. When this is complete, it will then be presented to Parliament in the usual way.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will give figures, in total and by local education authority, on the number of parental appeals on school admission for the last year for which figures are available.

In the 1991–92 academic year 37,676 appeals were lodged by parents against the non-admission of their children to the maintained school of their choice. The figures requested, by LEA area, are given in the table. In many cases appeals were withdrawn or settled before being heard by an appeals committee.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will give figures for the amount of transitional grant paid to date to each grant-maintained school in each local education authority area.

The information requested has been placed in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list for each grant-maintained school which became grant maintained in September or October, the full-year value of (a) direct annual maintenance grant and (b) the central annual maintenance grant; and what is (b) as a percentage of (a) in each case.

The information requested is given in the table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will arrange for his letter in answer to the questions listed in the Official Report, 5 November, column 493, to be published in the Official Report.

The text of the letter was as follows:

"I promised to write to you in response to two recent Parliamentary Questions about sex education. I am sorry that the strict timetable imposed by prorogation of Parliament meant that I was unable to answer fully at the time.

In Question No 296 you asked whether (a) abortion and (b) contraception will be considered as biological or other aspects of human sexual behaviour in our planned guidance to schools on sex education. That guidance will make clear that with effect from the beginning of the Autumn term 1994, the Order for National Curriculum science will require pupils at key stage 3 (aged 11-14) to study:

"life processes … growth, reproduction … particularly as they relate to human beings;" and

the physical and emotional changes that take place during adolescence".

It follows that discussion of contraception or abortion will not be a statutory requirement of the National Curriculum in science. These topics would be candidates for inclusion instead in the programmes of sex education which all secondary schools will be required to provide. The detailed content of those programmmes will, however, be for the schools themselves to decide, in the light of the guidance we will be offering.

Turning to Question 297, you asked what definition will be given in our planned guidance to schools to help teachers distinguish between biological and other aspects of human sexual behaviour. As I have already explained, the Circular will remind schools of the statutory requirements of National Curriculum science. It will also offer schools advice and models of good practice to help them draw up their programmes of sex education. We will shortly be issuing a draft of the Circular for consultation.

I hope this is helpful."

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what cases are pending before the European Court of Human Rights regarding the inflicting of corporal punishment in private schools.

None.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what action he is taking to increase the places for refugees in English as a second language classes.

The provision of tuition to improve the knowledge of English of refugees and others for whom English is not the language spoken at home is a matter for individual further education colleges, schools and local education authorities. The Further Education Funding Council has a duty to secure the provision of adequate facilities for the education of part-time students over compulsory school age and for full-time students aged 19 or over in respect of such courses.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list for each civil service grade in his Department (a) the total number of persons employed and (b) the total number of women employed.

The figures are as follows:

To ask the Prime Minister how many copies of the background note on the Queen's Speech have been sold to the press.

The background notes on the Queen's Speech are available free of charge to the press.As part of the Government's drive to make information more available to the public, a system operated on behalf of the Central Office of Information was initiated this year to enable individuals and organisations to obtain the background notes by facsimile transmission. Over 1,000 calls were made to the system.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will make available to the hon. Members the background note to the Queen's Speech which was made available to the press before the Queen's Speech.

The notes have been placed in the Library of the House.

To ask the Prime Minister what plans he has to change the vote accounting arrangements for the security and intelligence agencies, following the announcement of the intention to introduce new statutory arrangements for the secret intelligence service and GCHQ.

As part of its policy towards greater openness in security and intelligence matters, the Government intend to bring on to a single published vote the aggregate expenditure of all three agencies, much of which, including all the expenditure of GCHQ, has previously been carried on MoD and FCO Votes.The new single intelligence vote will be fully open to scrutiny by the Comptroller and Auditor General, apart from limited restrictions to protect the identities of certain sources of information and the details of particularly sensitive operations.The first main estimate for the new vote will cover expenditure in 1994–95, and will be presented to Parliament in March 1994.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his policy concerning rents for housing associations in Wales; and if he will make a statement.

It continues to be our policy to subsidise housing association rents by very considerable capital grants.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many farm holdings were registered with his Department in September.

In September 1993 there were some 37,000 names and addresses on the farm holdings list maintained by the Welsh Office.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many staff were employed within his Department and within agencies accountable to him dealing with agriculture in September.

At 30 September 1993 the number of staff dealing with agriculture in my Department and agencies was 808, including ADAS staff in Wales.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he intends to publish the Government's response to the second report from the Welsh Affairs Committee of Session 1992–93, House of Commons paper 403, on the preservation of historic buildings and ancient monuments.

I am pleased to announce that a response to the Welsh Affairs Committee report on the preservation of historic buildings and ancient monuments has been published today as Command Paper 2416. Copies are available in the Vote Office.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he will publish the evaluation of the programme for the valleys.

I have today published the report of the evaluation of the programme for the valleys 1988 to 1993 carried out by Victor Hausner and Associates, along with a statistical profile of the valleys produced by the Welsh Office. Copies have been placed in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland by what means his Department apprises itself of the policies and views of Sinn Fein.

The main sources of information about the policies and views of Sinn Fein are public ones such as written documents and reports of interviews. The Department will also, from time to time, receive unsolicited second-hand accounts relevant to Sinn Fein's policies and views from members of the community, some of whom may have had contact with members of that party. Constituency matters from Sinn Fein councillors are dealt with on the same basis as inquiries from other elected representatives. There have been occasions when Ministers and/or officials have met council delegations which have included a Sinn Fein councillor to discuss constituency matters.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the police establishment for each police force area in England and Wales for April 1992 and for each month thereafter, including details of supernumerary posts.

The information requested is set out in the tables.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effect of the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993 on the number of asylum seekers whose claims he considers to be bogus.

It is too early to assess the effect of the Act, but we are monitoring progress carefully.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list the number of kerb-crawling prosecutions and cautions under the Sexual Offences Act 1985, for each year since it came into operation;

The information is given in the tables.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the Government support the proposal that the European Community should become a signatory to the European convention of human rights; and if he will make a statement.

I have been asked to reply.All member states of the European Community are parties to the European convention on human rights. We see no need for the European Community, as a legal entity, to accede separately to the convention. The European Court of Justice applies the convention in cases coming before it which raise issues of human rights.

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will make a statement on the outcome of the EC Cultural Affairs Council on 5 November.

EC Ministers of Culture met on 5 November 1993 in Brussels. They designated Stockholm as European City of Culture for 1998 and Weimar for 1999. Ljubljana and Nicosia were chosen to host the European cultural month in 1995.Ministers held an exchange of views on the economic and job-creating aspects of culture. The Belgian Presidency made an oral report of the informal meeting of Culture Ministers in Antwerp on 19-20 September, and noted that the Commission would be looking again at the issue of fixed book pricing with the aim of finding pragmatic solutions for cross-border transactions within the same linguistic zone. It also noted that the Commission intended to set up an ad hoc group of representatives of the member states to assist it in inventorying the situation of the artist. Ministers also received information from the Commission about the campaign "Reading for Pleasure".The Council adopted a resolution concerning the first century of European cinema. It adopted conclusions noting the Commission's communication of 23 July on the subject of the evaluation report on the MEDIA programme. It also held an exchange of views on GATT as it affected the audiovisual sector, after hearing information from the Commission about the most recent state of negotiations.Ministers agreed a communiqué expressing their concern that artists in Sarajevo continue to express themselves and take part in European cultural exchanges. They invited the Commission to make a financial contribution to the 10th Sarajevo winter festival, as well as noting with approval the intention of some member states to engage in cultural and artistic initiatives as an expression of solidarity with Sarajevo.

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what plans he has to amend the Broadcasting Act 1990.

I have today announced that, following careful consideration of the representations that I have received, I have concluded that the present regulations on the ownership of ITV companies should be relaxed. Subject to parliamentary approval, I propose to make an order to amend the rules, so that an ITV company could hold two regional licences in areas with the largest advertising revenue, except in London. No one would be able to own more than two ITV regional licences and the limits on other holdings would continue.The statutory provisions on regional broadcasting and the conditions on regional programmes attached to the Independent Television Commission's licences remain in force, even if there are changes in ownership. These provisions safeguard the interests of viewers and, in particular, regional programming, including news and current affairs, which will remain a valuable aspect of the ITV system.For the longer term, we shall keep the ownership restrictions under review, and look at the wider questions of cross-media ownership.

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many indemnity undertakings were given by Departments under section 16 of the National Heritage Act 1980 for the six-month period ended 30 September; and what was the value of contingent liabilities in respect of such undertakings given at any time and which remained outstanding at 30 September.

The information my hon. Friend requests is as follows:In the six-month period ended 30 September 1993 the following undertakings to indemnify were given by the relevant Departments for items on loan to national and non-national institutions.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what response he has given to the report of the independent auditors in relation to the west coast main line.

I expect to receive Hambros' report shortly on the scope for using private finance to renew the infrastructure of the west coast main line.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he last met the director of the west coast main line to discuss investment and infrastructure requirements; and what was the outcome of these talks.

I last met the director at the end of October. The study by consultants on the scope for using private finance to renew the infrastructure of the west coast main line was among the subjects discussed. Any decision on the way forward will be made in the light of Hambros' report, which I expect to receive shortly.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list for each civil service grade in his Department (a) the total number of persons employed and (b) the total number of women employed.

The current total staff and the number of women in the central Department and its executive agencies is summarised in the table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the effect which the EC's Tern programme will have on his Department's proposals for the east-west route and the A418 west of Aylesbury-Wing bypass.

The east-west route was accepted as part of the trans-European road network, TERN, by the Council of Ministers on 29 October. The A418 west of Aylesbury-wing bypass forms part of the route.Inclusion in the TERN has no effect on the standards we propose for the route.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish a table showing the targets and performance against targets in respect of (a) punctuality and (b) reliability of each of the divisions of British Rail serving the London area, and of London Underground and London Buses, in each month from January 1992.

The information requested is shown in the tables.