To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what is his Department's involvement with TECs.

The Lord Chancellor's Department has sought information and guidance from Central London's training and enterprise council in connection with initiatives such as investors in people and NVQ national standards.

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when the Public Trust Office is to be established as an agency.

Further to my answer of 28 October 1993, Official Report, column 794, to my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, South (Mr. Hawkins), I am pleased to confirm that the Lord Chancellor shall establish the Public Trust Office as an executive agency on 1 July 1994. I will arrange for a copy of the Public. Trust Office's framework document to be placed in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to ensure that compensation awarded by the courts to victims of criminal acts is always paid.

Courts already have substantial powers of enforcement for use when an offender fails to pay promptly a compensation order or other monetary penalty. These include means inquiry and attachment of earnings or social security benefits, seizure and sale of property and imprisonment. Decisions about which enforcement sanctions to use in a particular case are for the courts. Magistrates courts are responsible for the collection and enforcement of compensation orders in individual cases. My noble and learned Friend the Lord Chancellor has recently circulated fresh guidance on how enforcement procedures might be improved.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many discretionary life sentence prisoners do not qualify as such for the purposes of the Criminal Justice Act 1991; and if he will make a statement.

In the case of prisoners sentenced before 1 October 1992, section 34 of the 1991 Act applies where the Secretary of State so certifies under the transitional provisions of the Act. One prisoner was not so certified.The application of section 34 to prisoners sentenced on or after 1 October 1992 is a matter for the courts. Information on the number of cases where section 34 has not been applied is not available.The status of prisoners serving a discretionary life sentence who have been transferred to hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983 is currently subject to appeal. Information on the number who may or may not qualify for section 34 provisions could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people sentenced to detention at Her Majesty's pleasure under section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 are currently detained; how many of these are now adults; and if he will make a statement.

The latest available information is for 30 April 1994. On that date there were 250 persons, of whom 61 were aged under 21 and 189 were adults, held in England and Wales who had been sentenced to detention at Her Majesty's pleasure under section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many mandatory life sentence prisoners have been told their tariff dates following the decision of the House of Lords in the case of R. v. Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Doody and others; and if he will make a statement.

As at 27 June 1994, 966 mandatory life sentence prisoners had been informed of their tariff in accordance with the arrangements set out in my right hon. and learned Friend's reply to my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Burton (Sir I. Lawrence), on 4 November 1993, Official Report, columns 376–78.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many cases the Home Secretary has increased the tariff period recommended by the judiciary in each year since 1990; and if he will make a statement.

The number of cases in which the tariff has been set higher than the period recommended by either the trial judge or the Lord Chief Justice is as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners have been permanently or temporarily transferred to Northern Ireland following the interdepartmental working group's review of the provisions for the transfer of prisoners between United Kingdom jurisdictions in 1992; and if he will make a statement.

Since 1 December 1992, four prisoners have been permanently transferred to Northern Ireland and nine prisoners have been temporarily transferred. In addition, four prisoners previously temporarily transferred have been granted further periods of temporary transfer in Northern Ireland.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received in respect of the age limit of 70 years for members of the new proposed police authorities; and if he will list them.

I have received four letters from hon. Members specifically on this subject since the Police and Magistrates' Courts Bill entered the House of Commons. Information relating to letters from hon. Members received before this date, and to correspondence from the general public, could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received in respect of the timetable for people who wish to apply for membership of the new proposed police authorities; and if he will list them.

None.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will now announce the results of his Department's review of electoral law and procedure.

I would refer the hon. Member to a question from the hon. Member for Colchester, North (Mr. Jenkin) on 4 March, Official Report, column 933. My officials have now met representatives of the local authority associations and will report to me in due course on the outcome of the review.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he intends to take in respect of doctors who have intentionally ended the life of a patient.

Any person who intentionally kills another person is liable to prosecution under the criminal law for murder. The investigation and prosecution of offences are matters for the police and Crown Prosecution Service.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the report of Sir John May's inquiry into the convictions of the Guildford Four will be published; and if he will make a statement.

As I announced on 16 May, my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General and I have received Sir John May's report of his inquiry into the case of the Guildford Four who were convicted in 1975 of murder and conspiracy to cause explosions following the Guildford public house bombings in October 1974. Paul Hill and Patrick Armstrong were additionally convicted of murder and conspiracy to cause explosions in connection with the Woolwich public house bombing in November 1974. Their convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal on 19 October 1989 following the decision of the then Home Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr. Hurd) to refer their case to the Court of Appeal under the provisions of section 17(1)(a) of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968.This report is being published today in response to an Order of the House for a Return. We wish to thank Sir John, and all those who assisted him throughout his inquiry, for the care and thoroughness with which he and they have examined the circumstances surrounding the convictions of the four and the subsequent consideration given to representations made on their behalf to my Department that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred.In his report, Sir John examines how the Guildford and Woolwich public house bombings were investigated by Surrey constabulary and the Metropolitan police respectively, the circumstances which led to the Four's arrest, and to the arrest of others in connection with the offences, and reviews the basis of the decision to prosecute the four. He then details the admissions made by the four in various statements to the police and sets out their respective explanations for why these were made. The alibis of the four for the Guildford bombing are examined in detail, as are the alibis of Paul Hill and Patrick Armstrong for the Woolwich bombing. Sir John has also considered the conduct of the trial, the interviews given by three of the four to the police following their convictions, the disclosure of forensic correlation evidence at the trial, the arrest of the Balcombe street gang in December 1975 and the admissions made by some of them and by one of their associates with regard to the Guildford and Woolwich bombings. Sir John has also examined the events which preceded the four's appeal against conviction in 1977, the conduct of that appeal, the role of Home Office Ministers and officials in considering representations alleging that a miscarriage of justice had occurred in their case and finally the 1989 appeal which resulted in their convictions being quashed.This was a very serious miscarriage of justice. The Government are determined that lessons are learned from such cases and applied effectively in the future. This is why we set up Sir John's inquiry and, more recently, the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice.Sir John's report contains a number of serious criticisms about the handling by the police of the original investigation, for example the number of arrests made, the inadequate basis for many of those arrests and the treatment accorded to those held in custody. However, it also acknowledges the many changes which have already taken place with regard to police powers and practice following the enactment of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and the resulting improvements achieved through the regulation of such matters as the interrogation of suspects, the time for which they can be detained in custody before being brought before the courts and their treatment while in custody under the codes of practice issued under the 1984 Act.The report refers to the Prevention of Terrorism Act, in connection with the number of people arrested during the early stages of the police investigations of the Guildford and Woolwich bombings and concludes that, in relation to many of them, the police exceeded the powers available to them under the Act. Sir John draws attention to the safeguards provided by PACE and expresses concern that there are greater risks of injustice in terrorist cases where some of the PACE safeguards do not apply.I have noted those points very carefully but think it important to stress that whatever early difficulties were encountered in using the Act's provisions, those do not reflect upon the way in which the Act is used now. The police are now very much better informed about the way in which their powers should be exercised. Detailed guidance has been issued and is supplemented by regular briefings. All persons detained under the PTA in England and Wales are covered either by the statutory safeguards in PACE or by the specific safeguards which have been built into PTA itself. In particular, PACE code of practice C, covering the detention, treatment and questioning of persons by police officers applies to all persons in police detention including those arrested under the PTA.The allegations of misconduct and ill treatment by police officers reported by Sir John have been the subject of appropriate action, including disciplinary action, wherever sufficient evidence has been available. Since the 1970s, considerable improvements have been made to the way in which complaints against the police are conducted. If similar allegations were to be made now, the police investigation would be likely to be undertaken by another police force under the supervision of a member of the Police Complaints Authority. The Police and Magistrates' Courts Bill, currently before Parliament, will provide scope for police disciplinary action to be quicker and less legalistic.Sir John's report notes the prosecution's failure to disclose before the trial expert witness statements and an alibi statement that might have been helpful to the defence; but he attributes those failures to regrettable human error rather than to any deliberate attempt to pervert the course of justice or to any failure of the criminal justice system itself. He also recognises that in certain other respects the prosecution team made fuller disclosure than its legal obligations required. It is worth noting that since the Guildford four's convictions, the law and practice on disclosure has developed in such a way that it should be much less likely that such a situation could occur.In reviewing the Home Office's role in this case, Sir John concludes that the criteria which successive Home Secretaries have used to determine whether a case should be referred to the Court of Appeal are sound in law and logic and provide no grounds for criticism. I welcome his further conclusion that, within the limits imposed by those criteria, the Home Office investigated the representations it received with care and efficiency. We seek constantly to apply the lessons to be learned from cases of this kind and we shall go on doing so. In the years since the Guildford case was referred my Department has developed a broader approach to cases that come to it for review, in particular by being ready where appropriate to investigate cases more widely than the specific points raised in representations, and by being ready to start up inquiries where a case comes to attention without necessarily waiting for representations to be made.The Government have accepted the Royal Commission's recommendation that a new independent body should be established to take over my responsibilities for reviewing such cases in the future, and I am currently considering the responses we have received to the discussion paper which we issued last March.

To ask the Attorney-General what is his Department's involvement with TECs.

The Law Officers' departments have not been involved formally with TECs.

To ask the Attorney-General what plans he has to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the prosecuting authorities.

The review team, headed by Mr. John Graham, which examined the handling of serious fraud has now delivered its report. Copies of the report and of annexes 1 to 5 and 7 have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. Annex 6 of the report has not been published. It is a summary of some recent and current cases in both Departments which should, in line with the general handling of such material, be retained within the prosecuting departments.The review team undertook a comprehensive study of the arrangements for the investigation and prosecution of criminal fraud cases in the Serious Fraud Office and the Crown Prosecution Service, examining in particular relative work loads and the criteria for allocating cases between the two Departments and the organisation and management of investigation and prosecution work in the two Departments. It took account of the role of the police in fraud investigations and of the DTI in company matters generally. The review did not constitute the feasibility study into the possibility of a merger between the Serious Fraud Office and the fraud investigation group of the Crown Prosecution Service suggested by the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice, but the review team was asked in its terms of reference to carry out its work in the light of the Royal Commission's recommendation 36.I am grateful to Mr. John Graham and his team for the work which they have done. The report identifies management and organisational issues which need to be addressed by the Crown Prosecution Service and Serious Fraud Office and on which the review team has made helpful recommendations. In many cases, the issues had already been identified within the prosecuting Departments and improvements set in hand. The vast majority of the remaining recommendations are accepted and I have asked the Director of Public Prosecutions and the director of the Serious Fraud Office to take these forward urgently, consulting the police where appropriate. A joint vetting committee is being established to ensure all complex and serious fraud cases are handled by the prosecuting department which has the most suitable powers and resources for the particular case. The copies of the report placed in the Libraries are accompanied by a response jointly prepared by the Serious Fraud Office and the Crown Prosecution Service, which deals briefly with each recommendation in so far as it affects each Department.The report concludes that there is a range of cases which can be satisfactorily handled only through the multidisciplinary approach to investigation and prosecution recommended by the fraud trials committee chaired by Lord Roskill. There are, however, some cases which can be described as serious or complex but which do not require that approach. The review team noted that there was some overlap between cases allocated to the fraud investigation group of the Crown Prosecution Service and to the Serious Fraud Office. It identified some potential benefits which could flow from the establishment of a single organisation which would deal with all serious or complex fraud cases but handle them on a differential basis. The review team saw scope for arrangements under which some cases would be both investigated and prosecuted by the new organisation while other cases would only be prosecuted by it. The review team made no recommendation as to whether any new organisation should constitute part of an enlarged Serious Fraud Office or Crown Prosecution Service but identified advantages and disadvantages associated with each option.Further consideration will be given to the question of merger in conjunction with the studies I announced on 6 December 1993,

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will make a statement on BSE.

The Government's Chief Medical Officer continues to advise that there is no evidence that humans can contract Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from an animal with BSE. There has been no significant increase in the incidence of CJD in the United Kingdom over the years 1985 to 1993. Also, the Chief Veterinary Officer advises me that the incidence of BSE among cattle in the United Kingdom continues to fall as a result of the control measures that have been put in place. There has been a particularly sharp decline in the incidence of the disease in cattle less than five years old.A large number of monitoring and research studies have been undertaken into BSE since 1988, and these continue. They include a BSE pathogenesis experiment which has involved the feeding of calves with a high dose of BSE-infected brain tissue. Some preliminary positive results from the BSE pathogenesis experiment will be published shortly in the "Veterinary Record". The experiment, begun in December 1991 and still continuing, is designed to investigate the biological pathways through which the disease develops in cattle.These results show that it is possible to transmit BSE to laboratory mice from intestines taken from young cattle when fed a substantial dose of brain material known to contain BSE. It is not surprising that BSE has been found in those tissues, which scientists have always considered a likely route for feedborne infection. The relatively short period in which the infectivity has shown up, in one case six months after being fed the BSE dose, does however raise the issue of whether calves up to six months should continue to be exempt from the ban on the use of specified bovine offals—SBOs—of which the intestine is one.My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and I have sought the advice of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee—SEAC—and have considered this with the Chief Medical Officer. The Committee noted the reduced risk of feedborne infection following the ban on feeding ruminant protein to ruminants such as cattle, which was introduced in 1988, and the continuing lack of evidence of significant maternal or horizontal transmission. They concluded that the theoretical risk of infection of man from food from infected calves is minuscule. They advised that the continuing results of the experiment should be carefully monitored to confirm this basic conclusion.I have carefully considered this advice in consultation with my right hon. Friends the other Agriculture Ministers and the Secretary of State for Health. We have concluded while the assessment of SEAC and of the CMO is that any risk to health is minuscule, the Government's policy of extreme caution in relation to BSE requires us to ensure that the tissues in which infectivity might potentially occur are removed from the human and animal food chain. We accordingly propose to extend the scope of the existing ban on the use of specified bovine offals to the intestines and thymus of calves under the age of six months. An exception will be made for calves which die before two months of age which cannot be used for human consumption under other existing legislation. The necessary orders will be duly made with the minimum of delay. This action is purely precautionary and will be kept under review.I intend to give particular thought to the possible scope for alternative safeguards less restrictive than those now in place in the case of cattle from herds which have not been exposed to BSE. Such an approach is now becoming appropriate as the epidemic continues to decline.I should repeat that the Chief Medical Officer continues to advise that there is no evidence whatever that BSE causes Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease and, similarly, not the slightest evidence that eating beef or hamburgers causes CJD.I am making available, in the House Library, a background document giving more detailed information about the experimental results and the advice of SEAC, the CMO and the CVO.I am informing the EU Commission and the EU Scientific Veterinary Committee of the action being taken.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many individual payments have been made to farmers as compensation for the slaughter of cows infected with BSE; and if she will make a statement.

It is not possible without disproportionate costs to break down the total amount paid out in BSE compensation into a list of individual payments made to specific farmers. However, the total number of cattle compulsorily slaughtered as BSE suspects since August 1988 and up to 28 June 1994 on which compensation would have automatically been paid is 122,171 in England, 6,455 in Scotland and 13,603 in Wales. There are also occasions where, because compulsory slaughter has not taken place, compensation is not automatically paid. In those circumstances, each individual case is assessed on its merits and ex-gratia payments may be awarded.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what amount of compensation is given to farmers for each cow slaughtered because of BSE; and if she will make a statement.

Compensation paid to farmers for an animal compulsorily slaughtered as a BSE suspect is an amount equal to 100 per cent. of either the market value of the animal or the monthly indicative market price—IMP—whichever is the lower figure. Where subsequent laboratory examination does not confirm that the animal was affected by BSE, compensation is an amount equal to 100 per cent. of the market value of the animal or 125 per cent. of the monthly IMP, whichever is the lower figure. The monthly IMP is a weighted average of prices of Friesian and Holstein cows, heifers in milk and in calf, and barren dairy cattle taking into account the age distribution of cattle slaughtered as BSE suspects in the month. The IMP for July will be £890.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent representations her Department has received from angling organisations and angling clubs in England and Wales, and from individual anglers, about cormorant predation; what action is being taken in response; and if she will make a statement.

The following individuals, organisations and clubs have expressed their concern to the Ministry about cormorant predation.

• G. R. Hemus, Esq.
• P. M. Hobson, Esq.
• F. Sandison, Esq.
• Major D. J. Shaw
• Aramstone Fishery
• Atlantic Salmon Association
• Blue Circle Northfleet Works Coarse Angling Club
• British Field Sports Society
• Duncan Cameron and Sons Ltd.
• Ernest Cook Trust
• Furness Fishing Association
• Hampton Bishop Fishery
• Harris and Sheldon Group Ltd.
• Hereford and District Angling Association
• Kingfisher Angling and Preservation Society
• Lancashire Fishery Conservation Association
• Luggs Mouth and Lower Carrots Fishery
• Orpington and District Angling Association
• Ouse Angling Preservation Society
• P. M. Fisheries
• Salmon and Trout Association
• Sam Davies Angling Syndicate
• Severn Fisheries Consultative Council
• St. Helens Angling Association
• Wantsum Angling Association
• Wye Salmon Fishery Owners Association

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what changes she is planning to the regulations that apply to the bringing into the United Kingdom of dogs from other European Union countries; and if she will make a statement.

[holding answer 24 June 1994]: The Rabies (Importation of Dogs, Cats and Other Mammals) (Amendment) Order 1994 has been made today. This order implements the derogation negotiated by the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland for the importation of commercially traded dogs and cats under the live animals trade directive (92/65/EEC), commonly called the "balai".Under the amendment order, from 1 July 1994, commercially traded dogs and cats will be able to be imported into the United Kingdom from other member states without quarantine if they comply with all the following strict criteria. They must:

To ask the Prime Minister (1) if he will make it his policy not to agree to any change in the procedure for choosing a President of the European Commission which would directly or indirectly remove or restrict the requirement for consensus;

I shall continue to insist that the President and other members of the Commission are appointed by common accord of the Governments of the member states, as the treaty requires. I shall consider candidates for the Presidency of the Commission on their merits.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 30 June.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 30 June.

This morning I presided at a meeting of the Cabinet and had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall be having further meetings later today.

To ask the Prime Minister what response Her Majesty's Government have given to lawyers of the two Libyan suspects of the bombing of Pan Am 103 who have made representations to Her Majesty's Government regarding the statement of Youssef Chaabane in a Beirut court that he planted the bomb.

We have received no such representations.

To ask the Prime Minister when the Government decided to oppose the Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill at Report stage.

[holding answer 14 June 1994]: The Government made clear their doubts about the Bill as a whole at Second Reading and on other occasions, but we had also indicated that we would see what, if any, parts were appropriate to take further. In the event, debates during Committee confirmed our doubts, and the Government explained the reasons why they were unable to support the Bill at Report stage on 6 May.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many contracts and for what total sum were let out by his Department and agencies for which it is responsible to (a) Coopers and Lybrand, (b) KPMG Peat Marwick, (c) Ernst and Young, (d) Price Waterhouse, (e) Arthur Andersen, (f) Touche Ross, (g) Grant Thornton, (h) Robson Rhodes and (i) Pannell Kerr Forster for (i) privatisation, (ii) market testing, (iii) management advice, (iv) accounting, (v) audit, (vi) consultancy and (vii) other services in (1) 1980 to 1983, (2) 1984 to 1987, (3) 1988 to 1991 and (4) 1992–93.

Information is not available for the period January 1980 to December 1983. From 1984 on, the available information on the number and value of contracts let to these consultancies by my Departments and their predecessors is as follows:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list those of his Department's advisory non-departmental public bodies which the Government are required to consult prior to legislation proposals; and in respect of which bodies the Government must publish their response to advice supplied by them.

None.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list his Department's advisory non-departmental public bodies which are required to publish their advice to Government.

None.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list the advisory non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department which have a statutory base.

The Political Honours Scrutiny Committee, sponsored by the Cabinet Office, was set up by an Order in Council which resulted from the Abuses of Honours Act 1925.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list the advisory bodies which he has set up in his Department since the publication of "Public Bodies 1993."

"Public Bodies 1993", published in December 1993, lists non-departmental public bodies in existence at 1 April 1993. The following advisory non-departmental public bodies have been established by my Department since then:

Citizen's Charter Complaints Task Force

Technology Foresight Steering Group

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list the advisory non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department which are required to lay their annual reports before Parliament.

None.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list his Department's advisory non-departmental public bodies which are required to produce annual reports.

None.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make it his policy to review the need to bring executive agencies of Government fully within the scope of competition regulation and fair trading control.

As the citizens charter second report 1994 explains, Crown immunity is being progressively reduced as legislative opportunities arise. In the meantime, Crown bodies are expected to behave as if they were bound by regulations. This applies to executive agencies, which are required to behave in accordance with the principles underlying competition law.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what consideration he has given to proposals under which accountants acting as receivers, administrators and liquidators would be required to publish information about their affairs.

I am not aware of any proposals under which accountants acting as receivers, administrators and liquidators would be required to publish information about their affairs.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what consideration he has given to proposals for appointing an independent regulator for insolvency.

I have considered proposals for the appointment of an independent monitor in individual insolvencies. I am anxious to encourage creditors to make use of the powers available to them to supervise insolvencies and I do not believe that the additional cost of such an independent monitor is justified.However, the Government welcome the setting up of the joint institute monitoring unit by professional bodies whose members are engaged in insolvency practice. This will provide users of insolvency procedures with a basic level of assurance as to professional standards and regulatory compliance.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish figures corresponding to those in the December 1993 issue of "Business Monitor MM20" for total trade in tables 3 and 4 for intra-EEC trade together with those for 1992.

Information for 1993, including intra-EC trade, was published by the Central Statistical Office in tables 2 and 3 in the December 1993 issue of "Business Monitor MM20A", "Overseas Trade Statistics of the United Kingdom with the World (including data for countries within the European Community: Intrastat)". Information for 1992 was published in "Business Monitor MA20", "Overseas Trade Statistics of the United Kingdom". Both publications are available in the Library of the House.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish a table corresponding to table F2 of the 1991 "Supplement to the Monthly Review of External Trade Statistics" showing separately the weighted average, excluding the United Kingdom, against the EC Six and the other listed countries.

The information requested is given in the table.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish a table showing by standard industrial trade classification two-digit division the industries whose share of the United Kingdom market has increased (a) since 1973 and (b) since 1979.

The information requested is not available.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish a table showing by SITC two-digit division the industries whose share of exports by the main manufacturing countries has declined since 1985.

The information requested is given in the table.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he will make a statement about his plans for the postal service.

I am today publishing a Green Paper on the future of postal services. It sets out the challenges and opportunities facing the Post Office businesses and the Government's response to them.We have one of the best postal services in the world. The Post Office and its employees have responded well to the challenges of recent years, but enormous changes are taking place in the markets in which the Post Office operates. If the Post Office businesses are to seize the opportunities and respond to increasing competition, while providing further improvements in the service to customers, then more fundamental changes are required. In its recent report on the future of the Post Office, the Select Committee on Trade and Industry said:

To ask the President of the Board of Trade whether consideration has been given to the impact of paragraph 6.4.2 of chapter 3 of the European Green Paper on post as it relates to the privatisation of (a) the Royal Mail and (b) Parcelforce; and if he will make a statement.

The EC Green Paper has no legislative force and therefore has no impact on the legal position. The section referred to by the hon. Member does indicate that the Commission intends to review the competitive interface between public postal services and those of other operators in respect of VAT. The Government have also addressed this issue in their own Green Paper, published today. The Commission has not, however, brought forward any proposals in this sector. Public postal services, such as the universal services which will under any outcome continue to be provided by Royal Mail and Parcelforce, therefore remain free of VAT.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many people are in current full-time employment with Parcelforce in Stoke-on-Trent; how many of them are currently in temporary contracts; how many of them are currently employed as casual workers; what are the recruitment procedures used in respect of (a) permanent, (b) part-time and (c) casual work; and if he will give details of different rates of pay and conditions of employment in respect of (i) permanent, (ii) part-time and (iii) casual work.

Parcelforce's staffing and recruitment practices are commercial matters for the business.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what discussions he has had with the European Commission about amending article 13(a)(1)(a) of the EC sixth VAT directive, whereby public postal services are exempt from VAT.

The Commission has indicated in its Green Paper on postal services its intention to review the VAT treatment of postal services, and this has arisen in discussions with them. The Commission has not, however, brought forward any proposed amendment.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what discussions he has had with the European Commission about the interpretation of article 13(a)(1)(a) of the EC sixth VAT directive as it relates to the privatisation of Parcelforce.

My officials, together with those of Her Majesty's Customs and Excise, have had a number of contacts with the Commission of the European Communities about that provision of the sixth directive. The Government are satisfied that, under the directive as it stands, privatisation would not mean the imposition of VAT on the universal letter and parcel services provided by Royal Mail and Parcelforce. The Government have made it clear that under any option they finally adopt, stamps will continue to be free of VAT.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what estimate he has made of the share of invisible exports which go to other EC countries; and if he will make a statement about the significance of invisible exports to the United Kingdom economy.

EC member states accounted for 35 per cent. of the United Kingdom's invisible credits in 1992, the latest year for which an analysis by country is available. Total invisible credits accounted for nearly half of United Kingdom's overseas earnings in 1993, and represented 18 per cent. of "money GDP".

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what consideration was given to evidence from the trustees before the Official Receiver's decision not to apply to the courts for a suspension before the automatic discharge in November of the bankruptcy of Mr. Asil Nadir; and on what grounds this decision was reached.

The Official Receiver's application under section 279(3) of the Insolvency Act 1986 in the case of Mr. Asil Nadir—Suspension of automatic discharge—was lodged in court on 5 May 1994 and is due to be heard on 1 July 1994.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 22 June, Official Report, column 225, if he will publish a table indicating the downtrend of manufacturing employment in the developed world between 1979 and 1994.

[holding answer 28 June 1994]: The information requested is published in the OECD's "Labour Force Statistics (1971–1991)", a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the rate of new business formation and failure in (a) Fife and (b) Scotland on a quarterly basis over the last three years.

[holding answer 27 June 1994]: Not all the figures requested are available. The best guide to trends in the number of business starts and closures comes from the annual VAT data; quarterly data are not available. Figures for the years 1990 to 1992 are published in "VAT Registrations and Deregistrations, County and District Analysis", 1980 to 1991, and 1992 editions. Both these documents are available in the Library of the House or online via NOMIS.Quarterly figures for company insolvencies in Scotland were last published on 6 May in the Association of British Chambers of Commerce's "Business Briefing", which is available in the Library of the House. Equivalent figures for Fife are not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what his estimate is of (a) current job vacancies and (b) job vacancies to be covered by the new training initiative.

In May 1994, the seasonally adjusted number of unfilled vacancies at United Kingdom jobcentres stood at 147,000. It is estimated that, nationally, jobcentre vacancies represent about one third of all unfilled vacancies.Modern apprenticeships are training places; high-quality training, typically taking about three years to complete. In five years' time there could be over 150,000 apprentices in training if employers respond, as I am sure that they will.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what sum his Department is currently spending on promoting the employment of disabled persons; and what the figures were in each of the last 15 years.

People with disabilities have access to all the Department's employment and training programmes, and benefit from all the Department's initiatives on promoting employment opportunities. Expenditure on disabled people within mainstream programmes cannot be disaggregated from overall programme expenditure. The following table contains such information as is available on programme expenditure on specialist programmes and initiatives for disabled people only and relates to expenditure from 1986–87 onward. It is not possible to provide figures for the years before 1986–87 without incurring disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will announce the membership of the National Advisory Council on Employment of People with Disabilities following its reconstitution.

I am appointing seven new members and reappointing 10 existing members to the National Advisory Council on Employment of People with Disabilities for a period of three years from 1 July 1994. The chairman of the Council, Mr. Alan Smith MBE, FIPM, FBIM, FinstD, has also been reappointed.The members of the council are:Members appointed after consultation with organisations representing employers

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to extend the job finders' grant to areas other than the pilot areas.

The job finders' grant pilots are being evaluated. No decision has been taken to extend them to other areas.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what account was taken in preparation of the Government's White Paper on competitiveness (Cm 2563) of the paper by Professor Beenstock et al on the United Kingdom economic recovery in the 1930s published in Bank of England Panel Paper No. 23; and if he will publish a table giving figures comparable to their Chart 42 for trade union membership as a percentage of employees in employment of the period since 1964.

Today's circumstances are very different from those of the 1930s. The trend in trade union membership from 1964 to 1992 is presented in the following table:

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what information has been given to his Department by BT plc about the expected number of redundancies of each grade of employee for the year April 1994 to March 1995.

Information given to the Department under the statutory redundancy handling provisions is provided in confidence.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will now introduce legislation requiring companies to consult representatives of their employees on redundancies.

Employers have been required since 1975 to consult recognised trade unions about proposed redundancies. The Government are presently considering what changes need to be made to those arrangements following a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the percentage of the total work force working under 20 hours per week for (a) 1984 and (b) 1994; and if he will make a statement.

Estimates from the labour force survey for Great Britain show that 11·per cent. of employees and self-employed people usually worked fewer than 20 hours per week in their main job in spring 1984, compared with 13·6 per cent. in winter 1993–94.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment by what process his Department monitors companies which provide training or initiate quotations as training providers; and if he will make a statement.

Training and enterprise councils contract directly with training providers. The TEC operating agreement between the Department and TECs sets out the monitoring requirements placed on them in a number of areas to ensure that their providers give value for money and that the use of public funds is managed in a robust and efficient manner.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what help, financial or other, his Department is prepared to offer Cathedral Employment Enterprises; and if he will make a statement.

The Employment Department does not contract directly with providers for training—other than the Employment Service for job clubs. Therefore, it is not in a position to give financial support to Cathedral Employment Enterprises. The ES currently has around £20,000 owing to Cathedral and is waiting to be advised by Cathedral's accountants of new arrangements for paying this figure. Both the ES and South Thames training and enterprise council, with which Cathedral had substantial contracts, gave Cathedral's invoices priority treatment to ease its cash-flow problems. All three TECs that currently have contracts with Cathedral, and the ES, are making alternative arrangements to help those trainees affected.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps her Department intends to take to eliminate the bullying of national health staff at work.

This is a matter for individual national health service employers, who will want to take account of the general Whitley council agreement on harassment at work, copies of which are available in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will detail for each financial year since 1990–91 the resource allocation, per head of population, for each health district in the old South West Thames region.

The per capita spend for 1990–91, 1991–92 and 1992–93 is shown in the table. Comparisons of those per capita spend figures need to be treated with caution. First, not all the expenditure covered arises from population related activities. Secondly, crude populations do not reflect differences in age structure or relative health care need. Those differences feature in the formulae used to inform the main allocations made to district health authorities. Thirdly, before 1991–92, DHAs were funded for their catchment populations and not for their resident populations.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is her estimate of the cost of providing public-funded residential care for people in England who have returned to, or remained within, the community under the community care policy ; and if she will make a statement.

The policy of replacing long-stay hospitals when appropriate with a range of health and social services in the community has been pursued by successive Governments over many years. It is not therefore possible accurately to estimate either the total or the current cost of residential care solely for people discharged from long-stay hospitals and those who might in other circumstances have entered such hospitals.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the extent of a link between IGF-1 levels in milk and serious gastro-intestinal disorders in humans; and what research her Department has undertaken into the link.

IGF-1 is a naturally occurring hormone in humans. Human blood normally contains 10 times the concentration of IGF-1 as that found in cows' milk. Any contribution to this from ingestion of milk would be minimal.The Department has undertaken no research into the link between IGF-1 levels in milk and serious gastro-intestinal disorders in humans.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many junior doctors and dentists in each region in England are contracted for more than (a) 83 hours a week or (b) 72 hours a week in on-call posts.

At 31 March 1994, the returns from the 14 English regional task forces on junior doctors' hours were as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 26 November, Official Report, columns 240–2, if she will list for each of the 13 research units which have been subject to peer review, the date of the site visit, whether the report of the review has now been discussed with the unit, whether a decision has been made about the future of the unit and the nature of the decisions which have been made.

The dates of site visits are shown in the table:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the total amount of grant which could have been claimed by each local authority, and how much was claimed by each authority, for (a) community care special transitional grant, (b) projects working with people with HIV-related illness and (c) for other health and community care projects, in each year for which such grants were claimable.

[holding answer 6 May 1994]: The community care special transitional grant was allocated to local authorities on the basis of a formula for both 1993–94 and 1994–95 and not on the basis of claims made. Details of the allocations are set out in special grant reports 6 and 7—HC 404 and HC 405—for 1993–94 and special grant report 10—HC 218—for 1994–95, copies of which are available in the Library.From its introduction in 1989–90 to 1993–94, local authorities were invited to submit bids for the HIV/AIDS specific grant without reference to indicative allocations but subject to an agreed national total. Details of the bids submitted and grants awarded will be placed in the Library. For 1994–95, local authorities were invited to submit expenditure plans which were assessed against indicative allocations of grant based on information provided to the Department by the Public Health Laboratory Service and available for the first time on the distribution of AIDS cases by local authority area. Details of the indicative allocations and grants awarded will be placed in the Library.Two other specific grants support health and community care projects: they are for services for people with a mental illness and for people who misuse alcohol and drugs. For each year since its introduction in 1991–92, local authorities have been invited to bid for the mental illness specific grant against indicative allocations issued by the Department of Health. Details of the indicative allocations and the grants awarded will be placed in the Library. From its introduction in 1991–92, the alcohol and drugs specific grant has been allocated on the basis of open-ended bids invited by the Department of Health from local authorities supporting voluntary sector projects. Information about the original bids made could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Details of the successful bids made by voluntary organisations for each year since 1991–92, together with details of the local authority supporting each project, will be placed in the Library.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect on the economy of maintaining the current level of public borrowing.

Had we not taken effective action to put public finances on a sound and sustainable basis, confidence would have been severely damaged and the recovery weakened.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what analysis he has made of the efficacy of profit share tax relief schemes; and if he will make a statement.

An evaluation of the tax relief for profit-related pay has been commissioned by the Inland Revenue, the Department of Employment and the Treasury, and is currently under way.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to reduce the volume of illegal imports of alcohol and tobacco.

The law prescribes severe penalties of up to seven years' imprisonment and unlimited fines for smuggling. Customs and Excise have deployed specially assigned staff and intelligence directed checks are used to seek out illicit goods. When cases are detected, the contraband is seized and in some cases the vehicle, too. Prosecutions have resulted in fines and custodial sentences.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest forecast for growth during the current financial year.

We are now facing the prospect of sustained growth and low inflation. I am forecasting that the economy will grow by 2¾ per cent. in both 1994 and 1995.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what economic conclusions he draws from the most recent unemployment figures.

Unemployment has now fallen by over 300,000 since December 1992, much sooner and much faster than most people expected. In part that reflects the improved labour markets flexibility resulting from our supply-side reforms.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much an average family paid per week in VAT in (a) 1979 and (b) 1993; and what he estimates this figure will be in 1994.

A couple with two children on average earnings paid VAT of £12.95 per week in 1979–80, in 1993–94 prices, and an estimated £19.48 per week in 1993–94. Since 1978–79, the real take-home pay of such a family has risen by £83 per week.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received on changes in taxation.

I have received a wide range of representations on changes in taxation.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many more people will pay income tax this year than last year; and what proportion of these are pensioners.

The total number of income tax payers is expected on increase by 300,000 in 1994–95, mainly because of increases in income. About 70,000 of the increase in the respect of taxpayers aged 65 and over.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on Government income tax policies over the last 15 years.

Since 1979, Government policy has been to reduce marginal rates of income tax, whenever it has been prudent to do so, to sharpen incentives to work and create wealth.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much he estimates will be raised by the Treasury in (a) 1994–95, (b) 1995–96 and (c) 1996–97 from the freezing of personal income tax allowances.

That information was given in table 4.1 of the "Financial Statement and Budget Report 1994–95" published on 30 November 1993.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the total revenue raised by value added tax in the last financial year; and what will be the likely value added tax take in the current financial year.

Net VAT receipts by Customs and Excise amounted to £39,248 million in 1993–94. The forecast for 1994–95 is £43,400 million.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer by how much Government investment in training will be cut next year.

The Government's spending plans for the years 1995–96 to 1997–98 will be announced at the time of the Budget in the normal way.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received about the need to review the tax regime to encourage film producers to use British facilities.

My right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has received no recent representations.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much public sector investment will change over the next three years, as measured by public sector asset creation; and if he will estimate by how much public sector investment has changed in real terms since 1989–90.

The information requested is provided in the following table: