To ask the Chairman of the Accommodation and Works Committee what was the cost to the Palace of Westminster of the new carpet which was put down during the spring recess in the Cloisters offices and other places; why it was necessary to replace the existing carpet; how long it had been there; what was the cost of replacement; what happened to the old carpet; and if he will make a statement on carpet replacement in the Palace of Westminster and on the estate.

The programme of planned maintenance and replacement of carpets in the Palace of Westminster is the responsibility of the Director of Works and is determined by their condition and the need to maintain adequate standards of safety. The replacement of the carpet in the Cloisters was two years overdue. Expenditure for the carpet replacement programme is included in the annual and 10-year rolling programmes of works which are considered by the Accommodation and Works Committee and the Finance and Services Committee before being submitted for approval by the Commission.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether OFSTED, the Office of Standards in Education, will continue to publish thrice-yearly reports on museums schools services as formerly issued by Her Majesty's inspectorate of schools.

This is a matter for Her Majesty's chief inspector of schools, who heads the new independent Office of Standards in Education. I have asked Professor Sutherland to write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether spouses of European Economic Area nationals living and working in the United Kingdom who are not themselves nationals of a member state are entitled to home fee status under the provisions of the Education (Fees and Awards) Regulations 1983.

No. The regulations do, however, extend home fees status to EC nationals and EEA migrant workers, and the children of both, living in the EEA for three years immediately prior to the start of a course. Dependants of EEA nationals living and working in the United Kingdom, who are not themselves EEA nationals, can qualify for home fee status by a period of three years residence in the United Kingdom immediately prior to the start of a course.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the children of Turkish workers legally employed in the United Kingdom are admitted to courses of general education, apprenticeship and vocational training under the same educational entry qualifications as children of nationals of the European Union member states; and that they benefit from the advantages provided for under national legislation in this area as required by Association Council decision 1180, article 10 of the Turkey/EC association agreement and additional protocol; and that such children are not required to pay overseas student fees.

None. However, the Education (Fees and Awards) Regulations 1983 provide home fee status to anyone, regardless of nationality, attending further and higher education institutions if they have been resident within the United Kingdom for three years immediately prior to the start of the course, other than for the purpose of receiving full-time education. The children of Turkish workers legally employed in the United Kingdom for such a period therefore automatically receive entitlement to home fee status.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education which local education authorities have been written to on an individual basis by his Department about the nature and content of information being provided by the local education authority to parents on the question of grant-maintained status.

The Department has written within the last 20 months to the following local education authorities about the nature and content of information that they have circulated to parents and governors on the question of grant-maintained status:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many ballots for grant-maintained status, and in respect of which schools, have been declared void as a consequence of misleading information being circulated to parents.

One ballot for grant-maintained status has been declared void on the grounds that voting in the ballot is likely to have been influenced to a significant extent by misleading information. The school in question is Christ Church middle school in Staffordshire.Ballots may be voided on these grounds under section 31 of the Education Act 1993, which came into effect for ballots initiated on or after 1 January 1994.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the outcome of the complaints about his Department's advertising campaign on grant-maintained schools.

The Advertising Standards Authority last week published its conclusions that these advertisements were not misleading and that they in no way breached the authority's code of practice.I understand that the Comptroller and Auditor General has also examined the advertising as part of his normal audit and found that the Department had followed all the established conventions about Government publicity, that Ministers had agreed the detailed content of the advertisements and that they had been properly briefed on the conventions.The Department's campaign has therefore now been given a clean bill of health on all counts.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children were identified as drug addicts in each year since 1979, by drug of addiction.

Information for 1988 to 1992 on children notified as drug addicts is in the table. Information for 1987 is not readily available and information for earlier years is not available on a comparable basis.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individual general practitioners provided notification of drug addiction in each year since 1979.

I refer the hon. Lady to the reply that my hon. Friend the Member for Fylde (Mr. Jack), then the Minister of State, Home Office gave her on 12 February 1993, Official Report, column 827. The figure given in that reply, which related to 1991, was obtained during a special study undertaken for another purpose, and information relating to the number of individual general practitioners who have provided notifications for each year since 1979 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the total number of individuals notified as drug addicts in each year since 1979, by drug of addiction.

The available information is published in tables 1 and 2 of the following Home Office statistical bulletins—issue 7/90, "Statistics of the Misuse of Drugs: Addicts Notified to the Home Office, United Kingdom, 1989", and issue 15/93, "Statistics of Drug Addicts Notified to the Home Office, United Kingdom, 1992". Copies of these publications are in the Library. These provide information on new addicts annually since 1979. Information on renotified addicts is only available from 1987.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the number of doctors in each year since 1979 who may prescribe diamorphine for drug addiction purposes.

Ninety doctors are currently licensed by the Home Office to prescribe diamorphine for the treatment of drug addiction. Details of the numbers licensed in previous years is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many rough sleepers have been (a) arrested, (b) cautioned and (c) prosecuted for begging in the Metropolitan police area for each of the last five years, and in 1994 to date.

Information is not collected centrally on the residential status of persons arrested, cautioned and brought before the magistrates courts in England and Wales.The table shows the number of persons cautioned and prosecuted for offences of begging and sleeping out by area from 1988 to 1992. Data for 1993 onwards are not yet available. Arrests data are not collected centrally for these specific offences.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidelines are given to the Metropolitan police for dealing with beggars; what changes he has made to them recently; and what proposals he has for changing them.

None. This is an operational matter for the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what instructions are given to security staff in his departmental offices in London for dealing with (a) those sleeping rough in departmental doorways and (b) beggars in the vicinity; and how many problems have been experienced with each category in the last three months.

As a measure of protective security, staff are instructed to keep the perimeters of buildings clear. No specific instructions are given to the security staff about those sleeping rough or begging. No problems have been experienced in either category within the past three months.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes involving guns there have been in each year since and including 1979.

Figures of notifiable offences recorded by the police in which firearms were reported to have been used are published annually in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales", copies of which can be found in the Library—lastest edition, 1992, Cm 2410, table 3.1. Figures for 1993 are not yet available.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received regarding his plans to make chief constables responsible for their own establishments; if he will continue to give substantive answers to questions from hon. Members regarding police staffing; and if he will make a statement.

The representations which we have received about the proposed changes to the police funding system have favoured dispensing with central controls on police force establishments.One of the changes, which is proposed by the Police and Magistrates' Courts Bill, is that the Home Secretary will no longer be responsible for approving police force establishment. The present system of detailed monthly returns will, therefore, no longer be needed for that purpose. Consequently, I propose to discontinue that requirement on police forces as from April 1995.Certain items of information will be needed for financial planning purposes, and we are at present considering the minimum level of data which will be sought from forces. This is unlikely to be asked for more frequently than twice a year.Under the proposed new arrangements, the number and mix of staff in police forces will be the responsibility of local police authorities. Home Office Ministers will continue to give substantive replies to questions from hon. Members about staffing numbers based on the latest available data.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) serving police officers, (b) civilian staff assisting the police and (c) crimes there were in the latest available three years for each police authority in Wales, for Wales as a whole and for England; and what was the ratio of crimes to police officers in each case.

The information requested is in the table:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when he will publish the 1993 report on race and the criminal justice system under the Criminal Justice Act 1991;(2) when he will publish the 1993 report on costs of the criminal justice system under the Criminal Justice Act 1991;(3) when he will publish the 1993 report on gender and the criminal justice system under the Criminal Justice Act 1991.

My right hon. and learned Friend's responsibility under section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 is in each year to publish information as he considers expedient to assist persons engaged in the administration of criminal justice to avoid discrimination—whether on the basis of race, gender or any other improper grounds—and to enable them to be aware of the financial implications of their decisions. Information about race and gender issues was published in 1992, and information on costs in 1993. This year we have published a paper on gender; and a larger publication dealing with race will be published in July.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his Department is doing to ensure that its treatment of asylum seekers does not breach article 5 of the European convention on human rights and article 9 of the international covenant on civil and political rights.

I am satisfied that the proper detention of people in accordance with the Immigration Act 1971 does not breach the United Kingdom's obligations under those articles.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has for reviewing the funding arrangements for police protection of special households; and if he will make a statement.

The introduction of cash limits on police funding from April 1995 will necessitate the use of a new formula for allocating funding to police forces. This formula is currently under construction. Special account will need to be taken, within the formula, of security issues, including the need to protect special households. The enactment of clause 15 of the Police and Magistrates' Courts Bill will ensure that no payments will be made under the new arrangements until Parliament has approved a report setting out the considerations behind the grant allocation.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what plans he has to relax the present advertising restrictions for bingo halls to allow advertising (a) in newspapers, (b) on the radio, (c) on television, (d) on bill boards and (e) through local signage, other than that presently permitted to a certain distance from the halls themselves;

I understand that these matters are the subject of discussions between the Bingo Association of Great Britain and the Gaming Board for Great Britain. I will await the outcome of those discussions before considering proposals for relaxation of the restrictions.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will bring forward proposals to allow payment of prizes up to the current £6 limit from amusement-with-prizes machines to be made in cash, rather than replayable tokens, in England and Wales.

This matter is under review.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to relax the restrictions on siting amusement-with-prizes machines in betting shops, pubs, casinos and private clubs; and if he will make a statement.

We are reviewing current policy on siting of amusement-with-prizes machines in betting shops. The outcome of the review will be made known once a decision is reached. Changes to primary legislation would be required.These machines are already sited widely in public houses and other premises. Casinos and members' clubs are eligible for two jackpot gaming machines.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the suitability of the present £6 limit for amusement-with-prizes machines in relation to the level of prize payments from society lottery scratch cards; and what plans he has to increase the pay-out limit.

Amusement-with-prizes machines are intended to provide amusement as opposed to a form of gambling for significant amounts of money and are not analogous to society lottery scratch cards. The limits for machines are, however, kept under review.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Metropolitan police have taken to ensure that there will be a single telephone number for inquiries regarding clamped or towed-away cars after the contract for this service expires in September 1994 ; and if he will make a statement.

I understand that the Metropolitan police and the Parking Committee for London, which acts as a co-ordinating body for the new parking enforcement work of the London boroughs, have discussed the unification of the boroughs' computerised public inquiry service, dealing with vehicle removals and clamping, and the similar inquiry service provided by the police.It is expected that a single system, with one inquiry point for motorists whose vehicles have been clamped or removed in London, will be provided by October 1994. Meanwhile, from 4 July 1994, arrangements involving the exchange of computer terminals will make it possible for the inquiry centre which is telephoned first to provide a full service to all callers.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the cost to the Metropolitan police for the protection of General Pinochet during his recent visit; and if he will call for reports from other police forces.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave the hon. Member for Newham, North-West (Mr. Banks) on 17 March, Official Report, column 781.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what immigration procedures were adopted in respect of the recent visit to Britain of General Pinochet.

General Pinochet was admitted to the United Kingdom as a visitor in accordance with the immigration rules.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Corby (Mr. Powell) of 21 January, Official Report, columns 909–18, if he will list the incidents of terrorist activity in Great Britain since 4 November attributable to groups (a) connected with Northern Ireland and (b) not connected with Northern Ireland.

As previously, the list classifies acts of terrorism according to the definitions in section 14(2) of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations his Department has received on the number of volunteer foot patrols, backed by local police forces, which are operating in response to the increase in rural crime; and if he will make a statement.

Following my announcement at the national neighbourhood watch conference in December, there has been considerable interest in the idea of volunteer foot patrols. Helpful discussions have been taking place with the police on this matter. It is essential that any patrolling should be supported by the local police and carefully monitored. Some examples of good practice already exist for voluntary patrolling. In respect of rural crime prevention, I have been delighted with the enthusiasm with which both police and public have greeted the parish constables initiative. There are now more than 60 schemes in operation around the country.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidelines or instructions currently exist for the treatment and medical care of prisoners with epilepsy.

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners have died as a result of epilepsy in each prison service establishment in each year since 1984.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of prisoners were held in establishments where prisoners were unlocked for a total of at least 12 hours on weekdays, on the last day of each month since April 1992.

[holding answer 14 June 1994]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average number of hours per week which prisoners spend in purposeful activity, at the latest available date.

[holding answer 14 June 1994]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the cost of the facility provided by ARA caterers in each of the prisons where they are operating; and what are the comparable costs of catering provided by public employees compared with contractors.

[holding answer 26 May 1994]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what restrictions on the use and unfurling of banners in Hyde park have been imposed in respect of the March for Jesus on 25 June; and for what reasons.

Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Royal Parks Agency under its chief executive, Mr. David Welch. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage whether his Department has been consulted by the Ministry of Defence over the possible siting of a naval firing range off Dodman point in Cornwall; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 20 June 1994]: My Department has not been consulted on this matter. I know, however, that, in making his decision, my hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces will take into account the possible implications for the local tourism and leisure sectors upon which the Cornwall economy so much depends.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the fees charged to short-wave radio users for detection of sources of interference from illegal radio operators, total revenue from such fees in the most recent convenient year, and the extent to which such fees cover the cost of such detection.

No separate fee is charged for the detection of illegal radio operation. The cost of this work is covered in the licence fees charged to licensed users. Details of current licence fees for all categories of licensed users are in the Wireless Telegraphy (Licence Charges) (Amendment) Regulations 1994, No. 659, copies of which are in the Library of the House.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the outcome of the Telecommunications Council on 30 May.

The Council confirmed in principle the common position on the draft open network provision —ONP—voice telephony directive that it had adopted on 30 June 1993, following the failure of the conciliation procedure with the European Parliament, adopting none of the amendments to the common position proposed by the European Parliament. There was no general agreement on the two proposed decisions on trans-European networks for integrated services digital networks—TEN-ISDN —which will be considered further by the Committee of Permanent Representatives—COREPER. The Council adopted conclusions on the Commission's fourth annual report on the implementation of Euro-ISDN and a resolution on the co-ordination of activity on interchange of data between Administrations—IDA. A number of problems remained unresolved on the proposed decision on IDA, particularly on costs, finance, the list of projects and the committee structure. The decision was referred back to COREPER for further discussion.Commissioner Bangemann reported orally on the work of his group of "prominent persons" on information infrastructure. The report of the group will be published shortly and will emphasise the importance of increased competition in telecommunications as well as the need for market-led investment from private sources, rather than new Community funding. The report will be presented to the European Council in Corfu on 24–26 June, possibly with specific recommendations from the Commission.The Council agreed conclusions setting out the next steps on standards for advanced television and invited the Commission to draft an article on conditional access for pay television to be included in a draft directive on standards. The text of a draft Council resolution on development of digital broadcasting was agreed. The Commission made brief presentations on the Green Paper on mobile and personal communications and the draft directives on mutual recognition of telecommunications and satellite licences. There was a short debate on postal services; the Commission noted that further work was needed on the development of a European terminal dues system which should ideally be completed in advance of the forthcoming Universal Postal Union conference in Seoul in the autumn. The Commission undertook to use its good offices to assist in this process and also reaffirmed its commitment to produce proposals on universal service, reserved services and technical standards in line with the February 1994 Council resolution.No formal votes were taken at the Council.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what progress has been made in establishing the Coal Authority.

I intend to appoint Sir David White as chairman of the Coal Authority, subject to Parliament's enacting the Coal Industry Bill. In the meantime, Sir David will advise my Department on the establishment of the authority and its policy. Sir David will give up his current appointment as a part-time member of British Coal.The Government gave a commitment in their coal review White Paper that the headquarters of the Coal Authority would be located in Nottinghamshire. I am now able to announce the initial accommodation arrangements being made for the authority pending its own consideration of longer-term arrangements. The authority's headquarters will be located at 200 Lichfield lane, Berry Hill, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, which British Coal Opencast will also continue to use for the time being. The Authority will additionally take over British Coal's abandoned mine plans facility at Bretby in Staffordshire, and co-locate certain associated functions.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what recent discussions he has had on the future of the Coal Research Establishment; and if he will make a statement.

The future of the Coal Research Establishment is a matter for British Coal.British Coal announced on 15 June that a new company, CRE Group Ltd., comprising CRE's technical and consultancy services together with CRE's laboratory-scale research and development activities, will be offered for sale later in the year. CRE's large-scale R and D activities will be retained within British Coal.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what meetings, hospitality or protection was offered to General Pinochet during his recent visit to Britain.

My Department offered no meetings, hospitality or protection.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what consultations he has had with (a) his colleagues in other Government Departments, (b) the fire service and (c) the Fire Brigades Union on the scrutiny report on the fire service; and when he intends to make an announcement regarding the report;

The fire safety review team has completed its work and its report has been submitted to the Government. Ministers are now considering the report and the question of its publication. No decisions have been taken on it, nor have any consultations begun with interested parties outside Government. But the Government have made it consistently clear that they are committed to full consultation with interested parties before any changes in the existing arrangements are made.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will seek to amend the Lloyd's Act 1982 so that members of Lloyd's have a right to sue the committee of Lloyd's.

I have no plans to do so.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade whether the commitments to restrict trade in toxic wastes made under the Basle convention will be allowable under the Uruguay round world trade accords.

The United Kingdom's ability to discharge its obligations under the Basle convention will not be affected by the results of the Uruguay round.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what timetable exists for the completion of metric conversion;(2) when the exercise on (a) metric conversion and (b) metric conversion with regard to distance measurement is expected to be completed.

The Government intend to bring forward legislation to implement the units of measurement directive before the summer recess. This legislation will include dates for converting to metric where conversion is required. However, it will allow the continued use of the mile, yard, foot and inch for road traffic signs, distance and speed measurement as permitted by the directive.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what action will be taken in any change of status of the Post Office to protect the current facility for posting articles for the blind.

The Government are well aware of the importance of the free postage facility currently offered by the Royal Mail for articles for the blind. The Green Paper on the Post Office, which is due to be published shortly, will, therefore, make it clear that, under any option, the Royal Mail will be required to continue to offer this valued service.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans he has to increase the regulations of tour operator companies in order to protect the finances and holidays of their customers; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 20 June 1994]: I have no such plans. Customer pre-payments for package holidays are already protected by the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people in the London area are currently considered by the Government to be voluntarily unemployed; and by how much this figure has increased over the last 15 years.

The information is not available in the form requested.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what instructions are given to security staff in his departmental offices in London for dealing with (a) those sleeping rough in departmental doorways and (b) beggars in the vicinity; and how many problems have been experienced with each category in the last three months.

No problems have been reported with either category in the past three months.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on his Department's policy regarding the eligibility of disabled people to become members of industrial tribunals; what records are kept of the number of disabled people who are members of industrial tribunals; and if he will make a statement.

We welcome applications for appointment from all sections of the community, including disabled people, and the information published by the Department on the appointment arrangements makes this clear. Records are not kept of the numbers of lay members who are disabled.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the assistance that his Government provide to developing nations.

With the sixth largest aid programme, we make a substantial contribution to the international effort to promote sustainable economic and social development in developing countries.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will make a statement about cleaners working at MI6.

The contract which has been let for office cleaning services at the new security intelligence service headquarters at Vauxhall cross provides for a more flexible service at a substantial saving to public funds.

To ask the Prime Minister what criteria are used to assess how many special advisers are attached to each Government Department; what are the criteria of evaluation which are applied when determining appropriate grades and salaries; how these posts are advertised; what interviewing and staff selection procedures are applied in choosing the most suitable candidate for each post; and if he will make a statement.

Special adviser appointments are made personally by Ministers, subject to my approval. There is normally a limit of one political adviser for each Cabinet Minister. There is no formal limit on the numbers of expert special advisers, which are subject to need. Salaries are negotiated individually in relation to the special adviser's previous earnings, and are confidential. Selection procedures are a matter for the appointing Minister.

To ask the Prime Minister what was his estimated annual cost in 1992 –93 for work by his Office in preparation for Prime Minister's Question Time.

It is not feasible to separate fully the costs involved.

To ask the Prime Minister how many written questions were answered by his Office in each of the last three years; and what was the average cost per question.

Since I became Prime Minister I have answered more than 2,500 written questions. It is not feasible to separate fully the costs involved.