To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what was the absenteeism rate for (a) his Department, (b) the Historic Royal Palaces agency and (c) the Royal Parks agency in each year since 1991.

The absenteeism—sick absence—rate for the Department of National Heritage since it was created in April 1992, is shown below. The information for the two executive agencies, Historic Royal Palaces and Royal Parks, is not held centrally and is unavailable in the format requested. When the information is provided we will write to the hon. Member and arrange for copies of the letter to be placed in the Library of the House.

	Number of days absent	Total number of staff
1992	280	207
1993	516	301
1994	459	362

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many employees for which his Department is responsible were women (a) in 1991, (b) in 1992, (c) in 1993 and (d) in 1994; and of these, how many were (i) at grade 7 level, (ii) at grade 3 level, (iii) at executive officer level, (iv) at administrative officer level and (v) at administrative assistant level.

The information requested is as follows. The Department of National Heritage was created on 13 April 1992 and the Royal Parks agency on 1 April 1993. While Historic Royal Palaces has been an executive agency since 2 October 1989, a breakdown of staffing figures in the format requested is not available for 1991.

Grade	1992(Percentage of Total)	1993(Percentage of Total)	1994(Percentage of Total)
Grade 3	1(33)	1(25)	1(25)
Grade 7	6(19)	11(22)	16(27)
EO	30(43)	52(48)	62(47)
AO	48(29)	76(37)	91(37)
AA	52(55)	69(50)	80(39)

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how provision for disabled people will be included in the three new policy areas chosen for emphasis by the Sports Council GB.

Under the proposals announced by the Minister with responsibility for sport on 8 July 1994, Official Report, columns 584–92, I shall expect the Sports Council, and its successors, to give full weight to the needs of sport for able-bodied people and people with disabilities in spending its grant in aid from the Government. We have also asked the Sports Council to consider particularly the needs of those with physical or other disabilities in its distribution of national lottery funds.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what was Government expenditure on research and development, civil and defence, for each of the last 10 years as a percentage of gross domestic product; and what were the equivalent figures for France, Germany, America and Japan.

The information requested is shown in the table.

Government funding of research and development for civil and defence objectives (as percentage of GDP): 1983 to 1992
Research and Development expenditure	UK	France	Germany1	USA	Japan2
1983
Total	1.32	1.38	1.14	1.16	0.52
Civil	0.66	0.93	1.03	0.41	n/a
Defence	0.65	0.45	0.11	0.74	n/a
1984
Total	1.25	1.43	1.11	1.19	0.50
Civil	0.64	0.95	1.00	0.40	n/a
Defence	0.61	0.48	0.11	0.79	n/a
1985
Total	1.19	1.46	1.15	1.24	0.48
Civil	0.63	0.99	1.02	0.40	0.46
Defence	0.57	0.48	0.14	0.84	0.02
1986
Total	1.11	1.42	1.11	1.26	0.48
Civil	0.61	0.94	0.98	0.39	0.46
Defence	0.50	0.48	0.13	0.87	0.02
1987
Total	1.02	1.39	1.11	1.27	0.48
Civil	0.57	0.89	0.97	0.40	0.46
Defence	0.45	0.50	0.14	0.87	0.02
1988
Total	0.93	1.36	1.06	1.22	0.46
Civil	0.54	0.86	0.93	0.39	0.44
Defence	0.40	0.51	0.13	0.83	0.02
1989
Total	0.90	1.36	1.06	1.19	0.46
Civil	0.51	0.86	0.93	0.41	0.43
Defence	0.39	0.50	0.14	0.78	0.02
1990
Total	0.88	1.42	1.04	1.17	0.45

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on how many occasions in the last four months of which he has knowledge any civil servants in his Department have been approached by commercial lobbying organisations on behalf of their clients at informal or unofficial engagements.

Officials receive representations about a wide variety of matters, but the information requested is not collected.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on how many occasions in the last four months he or any of his Ministers have been approached by commercial lobbying organisations on behalf of their clients at informal or unofficial engagements.

Ministers receive numerous representations about a wide variety of matters, but the information is not collected.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of safety at Coventry airport.

The Civil Aviation Authority's aerodrome standards department is responsible for ensuring that United Kingdom civil aerodromes meet prescribed safety standards. I have therefore asked the chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority to write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many rail passengers were killed or injured (i) by the opening or closing of carriage doors, falling through open doors or entering or alighting from trains and (ii) during train movement for each of the last five years (a) over the whole rail network, (b) in the Network SouthEast region, (c) in mark I electrical multiple unit slam door rolling stock in the Network SouthEast region and (d) in Networker 465 rolling stock in the Network SouthEast region.

The table gives the details requested of passenger injuries for all railways in Great Britain since 1989.The following table gives details for Network SouthEast and covers the period from its creation in 1992 to its reorganisation in March 1994, following the restructuring of the railway industry.

Passenger Injuries All railways Great Britain Entering or alighting from trains
	Fatal	Major injuries	Minor injuries	Total
1989	2	51	691	744
1990	2	55	736	793
1991–92	0	39	623	662
1992–93	3	34	665	702
1993–94	0	9	652	661
Total	7	188	3,367	3,562

Opening or closing of carriage door
	Fatal	Major injuries	Minor injuries	Total
1989	0	5	441	446
1990	1	13	803	817
1991–92	0	5	637	642
1992–93	0	8	627	635
1993–94	0	2	680	682
Total	1	33	3,188	3,222

Falling out of carriages during running of trains
	Fatal	Major injuries	Minor injuries	Total
1989	19	16	12	47
1990	19	9	20	48
1991–92	19	4	13	36
1992–93	9	6	28	43
1993–94	8	2	13	23
Total	74	37	86	197

Passenger Injuries Network Southeast 1 April 1992–31 March 1994
	Fatal	Major injuries	Minor injuries	Total
Entering or alighting from trains	0	9	551	560
Opening or closing of carriage doors	0	1	414	415
Falling out of carriages during running of train	2	1	14	17
Total	2	11	979	992

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what action he is taking to press British Rail to implement the recommendation of the Cannon street rail accident inquiry that class 415 EMUs should be replaced by new Networker units as quickly as possible; when he estimates that this process will be completed; and what plans he has to press British Rail to replace other mark I EMUs and against what time scale.

I understand that the last class 415 EMU will be withdrawn from the Kent suburban fleet on 13 April 1995, along with classes 413 and 416.The replacement and deployment of rolling stock, and the appropriate timing of an order, is a decision for BR. However, I understand BR's view is that all remaining "mark I" rolling stock on south eastern is likely to need replacement during 1999.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much it costs to strengthen a single mark I slam door railway carriage to the standard required by HM railways inspectorate in relation to recommendation 55 of the Hidden investigation into the Clapham Junction railway accident.

British Rail's estimate of the cost of strengthening mark I rolling stock is around £300,000 per coach.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many successful prosecutions for contravention of the (a) showman's vehicle and (b) agricultural vehicle excise duty concessions have taken place in the last five years for which figures are available.

These figures are not collected separately by the Department.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what response he has made to the recommendations of the Royal Commission report on transport and pollution; and if he will make a statement.

The Government have welcomed the royal commission's report as a valuable contribution to the debate about transport and the environment. We are now studying the report's conclusions and recommendations and considering how we should respond.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will list those of his Department's

Local transport capital—1993–94
	South East	South West	West Midland	North West	Mersey-side	North East	Yorks & Humber-side	East Midland	Eastern	London	Total
Transport Supplementary Grant	77.718	32.278	61.856	49.858	15.098	24.347	54.584	21.509	35.283	58.310	430.841
Public Transport Facilities Grant	0.0	0.0	0.013	00	0.0	0.0	18.156	0.250	0.0	0.0	18.419

The Government offices for the regions play an important role in advising Ministers on the regional implementation of national transport policies, covering all modes of transport. They advise on local authority transport programmes and policies and on the allocation of resources for local transport capital expenditure, including transport supplementary grant, public transport facilities grant—under section 56 of the Transport Act 1968—Industrial Development Act grant and associated credit approvals.The Government offices liaise with the Highways Agency on the trunk road programme and contribute to advice to Ministers on the programme's content and progress. They also provide advice to Ministers on the transport aspects of programmes administered by other Departments.Local transport capital expenditure in 1993–94, the last complete financial year, is shown in the table.The total running cost to the Department of the Government Offices for the current financial year is forecast to be as follows:

	£ million
Eastern	0.247
East Midlands	0.218
London	2.462
Mersey side	0.079
North East1	0.443
North West	0.180
South East	0.430
South West	0.260
West Midlands	0.227
Yorkshire and Humberside	0.230
Total	4.784
1 The figure for the Government office for the north east includes running costs incurred in carrying out the Secretary of State's role in confirming orders promoted by local authorities under the Highways Act 1980 and for highways under the Acquisition of Land Act 1981, a national activity carried out for all regions.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) on how many occasions in the last four months of which he has knowledge any civil servants in his Department have been approached by commercial lobbying organisations on behalf of their clients at informal or unofficial engagements;(2) on how many occasions in the last four months he or any of his Ministers have been approached by commercial lobbying organisations on behalf of their clients at informal or unofficial engagements.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given earlier today by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people were disabled as a result of accidents at work in the sea fishing industry in the years 1992, 1993 and 1994.

This information is not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to announce a decision on the proposal to ban coaches from the outside lanes of motorways with three or more lanes.

I have today laid regulations implementing such a ban with effect from 1 January 1996. The ban will be for a trial period and will be reviewed when two years' accident data are available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if Liverpool education authority spent all its standard spending assessment for education in the last year for which figures are available.

The latest data on provisional outtum expenditure indicate that Liverpool city council's education expenditure was some 3.6 per cent. less than its education standard spending assessment for 1993–94. But education SSAs are not prescriptive and each council is free to determine its spending priorities between and within services.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the cost of a secondary school place in a grant-maintained school in Wolverhampton in 1993–94; and what is the estimated cost in 1994–95.

Information relating to the cost of secondary school places in grant-maintained schools in Wolverhampton for the years in question is held by the Funding Agency for Schools. I have asked the chairman of the agency to write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was (a) the total cost of the assisted-places scheme at Wolverhampton grammar school and (b) the average cost per pupil in 1993–94; and what is the estimated cost in 1994–95.

The total cost of the scheme at Wolverhampton grammar school for the academic year 1993–94 was £792,715 and the average cost per pupil was £3,109. The estimated cost of the scheme for the academic year 1994–95 is £863,125 and the average cost per pupil is expected to be in the region of £3,230.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what measures she is taking to ensure that all pupils gain skills in using computer keyboards, word processing and spreadsheet software and information networks such as the Internet.

The Government are supporting the development of pupils' information technology skills through the inclusion of IT capability in the national curriculum; through a £187 million programme of grants for education support and training; and through the work of the National Council for Educational Technology. My right hon. Friend announced on 11 January an initiative on information super-highways for education, which will begin with a major consultation exercise in the spring.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will publish for (a) England and (b) the United Kingdom, for the last three available years, the number of full-time students in (i) further education, (ii) higher education and (iii) further and higher education in total, indicating the percentage of women in each case.

The information requested is shown:

Numbers of students in further and higher education in England and the UK—1990 to 1992 Full-time and sandwich only Home and overseas
	England Total 000s	United Kingdom Women 000s	Women Percentage	Total 000s	Women 000s	Women Percentage
1990–91
Further Education	402.9	219.2	54.4	480.4	260.9	54.3
Higher Education	592.8	277.3	46.8	747.0	352.0	47.1
Total	995.7	496.5	49.9	1,227.4	612.9	49.9
1991–92
Further Education	465.2	248.0	53.3	542.6	289.6	53.4
Higher Education	670.7	317.7	47.4	844.0	400.0	47.4
Total	1,135.8	564.9	49.7	1,386.6	689.6	49.7
1992–93
Further Education	498.0	260.5	52.3	586.0	305.9	52.2
Higher Education	762.3	365.0	47.9	958.0	461.0	48.1
Total	1,260.3	625.5	49.6	1,544.0	766.9	49.7

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what representations she has had from the North West Regional Association for Education Authorities in regard to the standing spending assessments and capping limits for its constituent authorities; what reply she has sent; what action she is taking; and if she will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend has received a number of representations from the North West Regional Association of Education Authorities. I have arranged for copies of the correspondence and my reply to be placed in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will list the amount of grant given to the National Youth Agency for each year since 1991 and the estimated grant for (a) 1995–96, (b) 1996–97 and (c) 1997–98.

The grant paid or allocated to the National Youth Agency in the period 1991–92 to 1995–96 is as follows:

	£million
1991–92	1.840
1992–93	1.495
1993–94	1.687
1994–95	1.716
1995–96	1.655

Funding for 1996–97 and future years will be reviewed as part of the annual public expenditure survey and in the light of the outcome of the policy review of the agency.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proposals she is considering from Nottinghamshire county council for the closure or merger of schools; what schools are involved; and when she received these proposals.

The following table shows the proposals, published by Nottinghamshire county council, under section 12 of the Education Act 1980, to cease to maintain schools. These are currently under consideration by the Departme

Proposals	Date received by the Department
Padstow comprehensive	1 July 1994
Releigh Infant's School	10 November 1994
Windley Junior School	10 November 1994
Thomas Magnus VC Upper School	5 December 1994
Magdalene CE VC High School	5 December 1994
Lilley and Stone VC Upper School	5 December 1994
Sconce Hill High School	5 December 1994

The Department is also considering associated proposals from Nottinghamshire county council to establish a new primary school on the site of Windley junior school.The governing bodies of Thomas Magnus school and Lilley and Stone school have published proposals, under section 13 of the Education Act 1980, to establish new 1 I to 18 schools on the sites of Thomas Magnus school and Lilley and Stone school. These proposals relate to the county council's closure proposals. Padstow comprehensive school has submitted an application for grant-maintained status which will be determined with the closure proposal.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) on how many occasions in the last four months of which she has knowledge any civil servants in her Department have been approached by commercial lobbying organisations on behalf of their clients at informal or unofficial engagements;(2) on how many occasions in the last four months she or any of her Ministers have been approached by commercial lobbying organisations on behalf of their clients at informal or unofficial engagements.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many parents voted (a) in favour and (b) against in all ballots for grant-maintained status in those schools currently operating as grant maintained.

In ballots at schools in England which are currently grant maintained, 450,819 parents voted in favour and 145,005 voted against.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress has been made across Government Departments towards meeting the energy saving targets given in "Climate Change: the UK Programme".

I refer the hon. Member to tables one to three following chapter five of "This Common Inheritance: The Third Year Report," column 2549. Further data will be published shortly.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what attempt will be made by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution to recover the costs of cleaning up the uranium dumped at the Chelveston farm in Northamptonshire from those responsible for the radioactive pollution of the area;(2) if he will ask Her Majesty's chief inspector of pollution to establish an investigation into the fly tipping of uranium at a farm in Chelveston, Northamptonshire; and if he will make it his policy to publish the report of such an investigation.

The scrap metal containing uranium found on land at Poplar farm, Caldecott, Northamptonshire is of unknown origin. Investigations are continuing to try and trace the source of the material and those involved in its movement. As the results of this investigation may form the basis of a prosecution under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993, detailed information will not be published until any such enforcement action is completed by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution. The possibility of recovering costs of waste removal and clean up of the site will also be fully investigated.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the process and timetable for the investigation of the Drigg low-level radioactive waste disposal site by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution.

[holding answer given Thursday 19 January 1995]: Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution has already thoroughly investigated allegations made by Greenpeace about Drigg, following its illegal entry to the site and has confirmed that there has been no breach of the site's certificate of authorisation. The certificate of authorisation contains conditions and limits which impose specific requirements on the company, relating to the type of waste disposed of, the method of disposal and the radioactive content of disposals made. HMIP is satisfied that operations at the site properly protect the public.With regard to the more general question of the disposal of radioactive waste at landfill sites, the Government's consultation document "Review of Radioactive Waste Management Policy: Preliminary Conclusions", published on 5 August, proposed that there may be advantage in encouraging waste producers to make greater use of such controlled burial. This form of disposal is already used by major hospitals and universities and some sections of the nuclear industry for their low-level waste, and the proposals do not involve any deregulation. Encouraging greater use of controlled burial would help to relieve pressure on capacity at Drigg.However, this remains only a proposal, and there are no plans in relation to specific sites. The consultation document invited views on the subject, and these are currently receiving careful consideration. A statement of future policy will be made in due course.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment his Department has made of the effect of low-level radioactive waste dumping in landfill sites on house prices in the vicinity of authorised sites.

None.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received from local authorities submitting unsuccessful bids for single regeneration budget moneys alleging that they were encouraged to believe that their bids would succeed in discussions with the relevant regional office.

There have been five such representations from local authorities.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he proposes to conclude his consideration of the consultation on exemptions from waste management licensing for the recovery of scrap metal and the dismantling of waste motor vehicles; when he proposes to publish the new guidance and the new regulations; how many responses he received to the consultation; and if he will make a statement.

We have received 115 direct responses to the consultation paper published on 8 November 1994 proposing exemptions from waste management licensing for the recovery of scrap metal and the dismantling of waste motor vehicles. Some respondents also requested Members of Parliament to make representations on their behalf. Our aim is to conclude our consideration of all these responses and to lay the regulations providing any exemptions from licensing within the next three weeks. Our guidance is dependent on the terms of any exemptions provided and will be published as soon as possible after the regulations have been laid.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many tenants have bought their homes under the right-to-buy scheme; and how many subsequently sold their homes (a) in total and (b) in Stockport.

Between October 1980 and September 1994 over 1.2 million tenants of local authorities and new towns in England purchased their homes under the right-to-buy legislation. Of these, some 3,500 sales were to local authority tenants in Stockport metropolitan borough council.Information on housing association sales at local authority level is not available; sales for the country as a whole are estimated to be almost 27,000.Data on subsequent sales by former tenants are not collected by the Department.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many employees for which his Department is responsible were women (a) in 1991, (b) in 1992, (c) in 1993 and (d) in 1994; and, of these, how many were (i) at grade 7 level, (ii) at grade 3 level, (iii) at executive officer level, (iv) at administrative officer level and (v) at administrative assistant level.

The following information covers non-industrial staff in my Department, excluding PSA Services:

Grade	1991	1992	1993	1994
Grade 3	4	5	5	4
Grade 7	104	118	128	138
EO and equivalent	544	516	553	533
AO and equivalent	976	962	1,021	972
AA and equivalent	574	563	558	489
Total female staff	2,672	2,628	2,763	2,630

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his oral answer of 18 January, Official Report columns 696–97 to the hon. Member for Normanton (Mr. O'Brien), if he will list the number of home renovation grants not including disabled facilities or minor works grants approved in 1993.

Some 40,221 renovation grants were approved in 1993.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will provide additional resources to local authorities that wish to offer mortgages to tenants who wish to buy homes which have been designated as defective.

There are no plans to make additional resources available to local authorities for this purpose. Local housing authorities receive a housing investment programme allocation each year. It is for each authority to decide how best to use this allocation to meet local housing needs.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has relating to the number of applications made by boarding houses and hotels for change of use to houses of multiple occupation or hostels since the relevant changes in the planning law.

As planning applications are made to local planning authorities detailed information of this kind is not held centrally.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals he has considered for funding the Energy Saving Trust after the gas market has been deregulated.

The finances of the Energy Saving Trust are properly a matter for the trust, which is an independent company. However, the Government are currently considering a range of options for funding the trust and the schemes it promotes, including the involvement of private sector finance and input from the energy consumer.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many (a) working and (b) disused quarries there are in each of the national parks.

Separate figures are not available for working and disused quarries. The table shows numbers of sites for surface mineral workings—"quarries"—in each of the national parks in England and Wales as of 1988, taken from surveys carried out for the Department of the Environment and for the Welsh Office. Similar statistics for national parks in England for 1994 will be available later this year in the results of an updated survey.

National park	Number of surface mineral workings
Brecon Beacons	27
Dartmoor	9
Exmoor	Nil
Lake District	20
North York Moors	21
Northumberland	5
Peak District	121
Pembroke Coast	10
Snowdonia	92
Yorkshire Dales	13

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what criteria underlay the decision to exclude the contribution of radioactive particulate material and radioactive gases, including krypton, from the report "Air Quality: Meeting the Challenge".

"Air Quality: Meeting the Challenge" details the Government's strategic policies for improving air quality. It sets out a new framework for setting and achieving air quality targets and standards for the nine toxic pollutants of most concern. Radiotoxides are adequately addressed elsewhere.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) on what date he supplied the European Commission with a list of less-sensitive areas and copies of studies of them carried out in respect of such areas under article six of the urban waste directive;(2) what plans he has to request an extension of time from the European Commission in respect of listing and forwarding copies of studies of less-sensitive areas under article six of the urban waste water directive;(3) when he submitted to the European Commission proposals under article 8(5) of the urban waste water directive listing the areas subject to the proposals and the basis of those proposals;(4) what information he has provided to the European Commission on its implementation programme as required by article 17(2) of the urban waste water directive indicating the outline and nature of the information provided; and what extension of time for providing the information was requested.

A list of the less-sensitive areas—known as high natural dispersion areas in the United Kingdom—identified under the directive was sent to the European Commission on 24 May 1994. Under the terms of the directive, comprehensive studies must be carried out following identification of the areas, before a discharge consent can be given for a minimum of primary treatment. The studies will be carried out in time for relevant discharge consents to be given for the discharges concerned before the end of the years 2000 or 2005, whichever of the directive's implementation dates applies to each affected discharge. The question of applying for an extension of time does not arise.Where relevant, proposals for applying article 8(5) of the directive will be made to the Commission after comprehensive studies have been completed and before the relevant implementation deadline. Such proposals will be made only where it can be demonstrated that no environmental benefit will accrue from the provision of a higher level of treatment than the requirements of article 6(2).Information required by article 17(2) of the directive was provided to the Commission on 25 November 1994 without application for an extension of time for its provision. The information given was that required by the Commission decision of 28 July 1993–93/481/EEC; OJ No L 226, 28.7.1993, p.23. A copy of the "Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive—UK Article 17 Report" has been placed in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a list of those local authorities which have completed voluntary transfer of their housing stock, and the date on which the transfer was completed.

Since 1988, 35 local authorities have transferred a total of 156,739 homes through large scale voluntary transfer. These authorities are listed, together with the dates on which they completed transfer.

Authority	Date of Transfer
Chiltern	15 December 1988
Sevenoaks	29 March 1989
Newbury	30 November 1989
Swale	28 March 1990
Broadland	4 April 1990
North Bedfordshire	13 June 1990
Medina	27 July 1990
Rochester	27 July 1990
South Wight	30 July 1990
Mid Sussex	9 November 1990
East Dorset	3 December 1990
Tonbridge and Mailing	15 January 1991
Ryedale	28 February 1991
South Bucks	26 March 1991
Christchurch	28 March 1991
Suffolk Coastal	22 May 1991
Tunbridge Wells	29 January 1992
Bromley	6 April 1992
Surrey Heath	15 January 1993
Breckland	30 March 1993
East Cambridgeshire	31 March 1993
Hambieton	29 April 1993
West Dorset	27 May 1993
Havant	31 January 1994
Epsom and Ewell	14 February 1994
Hart	9 March 1994
South Shropshire	23 March 1994
Leominster	25 March 1994
South Ribble	30 March 1994
Hertsmere	31 March 1994
Penwith	16 May 1994
North Dorset	6 September 1994
Wychavon	3 October 1994
Mid Bedfordshire	4 October 1994
Thanet	19 December 1994

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those of his Department's responsibilities on which the integrated regional offices are required to advise him on the allocation of resources and, for each integrated regional office, the annual expenditure on each programme.

In 1993–94 the Department of the Environment's regional offices advised Ministers on the programmes shown in the table. The Department of the Environment's regional offices became part of the Government offices for the regions in April 1994.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those of his Department's responsibilities which are administered by the integrated regional offices and, for each integrated regional office, the estimated annual expenditure on each of these responsibilities.

On my right hon. Friend's behalf, the Government offices for the regions administer the single regeneration budget, housing and regeneration programmes, undertake certain planning and environment functions and provide the main local points of contact between the Department and local authorities. In 1994–95, the Government offices expect to spend the following sums in pursuit of these functions:

	£000s
Government Office for the North East	3,174
Government Office for the North West	4,682
Government Office for Yorkshire and Humberside	3,532
Government Office for Merseyside	2,086
Government Office for the West Midlands	3,547
Government Office for the East Midlands	2,579
Government Office for the Eastern Region	2,063
Government Office for the South West	2,143

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total number of staff working in each integrated regional office; and in each integrated regional office, what is the total annual cost of their employment.

The information requested is shown in the table.

Government office	Total number of staff (as at December 1994)	Total annual cost of staff employed – million
North East	289	6.2
North West	383	8.4
Mcrseyside	157	3.5
Yorkshire and Humberside	340	6.9
West Midlands	360	7.5
East Midlands	264	5.5
Eastern	191	4.5
South West	234	5.2
South East	241	6.0
London	340	8.8

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those of his Department's responsibilities on which integrated regional offices are responsible for preparing, advising on or implementing regional policy.

The Government offices in the regions assist my Department in work on preparing and disseminating regional planning guidance, and on European regional development fund matters. They also advise bidders under the single regeneration budget on those bids of regional scale.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many times the Green Ministers met as a group during 1994.

Green Ministers met twice as a group in 1994, in addition to fulfilling their continuing responsibilities to integrate environmental considerations into their own Department's strategies and policies.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) on how many occasions in the last four months of which he has knowledge any civil servants in his Department have been approached by commercial lobbying organisations on behalf of their clients at informal or unofficial engagements;(2) on how many occasions in the last four months he or any of his Ministers have been approached by commercial lobbying organisations on behalf of their clients at informal or unofficial engagements.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster earlier today.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, if his Department has responded to the public review draft of the United States Environmental Protection Agency's report on dioxins.

Yes. The Government have completed their initial study of the EPA's draft report on dioxins. My Department has summarised the results of the study in a factual and technical commentary that it has sent to the EPA.The commentary concentrates on the problems of assessing exposure to dioxins. It deals particularly with those aspects of exposure assessment that have been the subject of considerable recent research and analysis in this country and the rest of Europe. We hope this additional perspective may contribute further depth to what is already a very substantial and important draft.An expert review of recent scientific work on the health effects of dioxins—including work reported in the EPA draft—is being carried out for the Department of Health by the committee on toxicity of chemicals in food, consumer products and the environment. This review will not be completed for some months: it would, therefore, have been premature to comment in depth on those volumes of the EPA's draft that deal with the health effects of dioxins. Meanwhile, established research findings indicate that the dioxin levels to which the UK population is exposed do not, on the basis of the COT's current advice, present a threat to health.A copy of the material my Department has sent to the EPA has today been placed in the Library of the House.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cases of dourine were reported in each year since 1985.

No cases of dourine have ever been reported in this country.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what financial assistance is available from Her Majesty's Government or the European Commission for the grubbing out of (a) orchards and (b) vineyards.

Financial assistance is available for applicants who grub at least one hectare of culinary or dessert orchards. To qualify apple trees must be less than 20 years old, healthy, capable of bearing a full crop of fruit and planted at a density of more than 400 to the hectare. Grant rates are 5000 ecu—approximately £4,600—per hectare for total grubbing and 3500 ecu—approximately £3,200—per hectare for partial grubbing. The scheme closes on 31 January 1995.There is no scheme of financial assistance for the grubbing out of United Kingdoms vineyards.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has about the numbers of Spanish—owned vessels on the fishing register of each of the other EEC fishing nations.

The Ministry does not keep information on the composition of fishing vessel registers maintained by other member states.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many employees for which his Department is responsible were women (a) in 1991, (b) in 1992, (c) in 1993 and (d) in 1994; and of these, how many were (i) at grade 7 level, (ii) at grade 3 level, (iii) at executive officer level, (iv) at administrative officer level and (v) at administrative assistant level.

The information for MAFF, including its executive agencies, is as follows:

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cases of equine infectious anaemia there have been in each year since 1985.

There have been no recorded cases of equine infectious anaemia in this country since 1976.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cases of sheep scab there were in each year since 1990 and in each month for 1994.

The total number of confirmed cases of sheep scab in England for the years 1990 to 1992 was as follows:

	Number
1990	82
1991	96
1992 (to 30 June)	63

The collation of official records on the number of outbreaks of sheep scab was discontinued after deregulation of compulsory controls in 1992.Industry reports have indicated that sheep scab has been discovered in every county in Britain. A surveillance exercise during spring 1994 identified 177 batches of sheep suspected of having sheep scab from 869 visits to sheep sales and markets. These and other reports confirm that the disease is probably present in all parts of the country.The Government announced on 17 May 1994 that they would conduct a publicity campaign and increase the official veterinary presence at sheep markets. To date, in Great Britain suspected sheep scab has been detected at only 14 of 1,982 market visits conducted since 1 September 1994. In total 189 animals have been withdrawn from sale and treated under the Welfare of Animals at Markets Order 1990, and a further 103 animals with suspected sheep scab were sent direct to slaughter.A further surveillance exercise will be carried out this spring.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for what reasons generic milk production is excluded from the Milk Development Council.

With a levy-funded budget limited to £6.5 million a year, the Milk Development Council would not have sufficient resources to run expensive generic promotion campaigns while at the same time undertaking its principal function of sponsoring R and D on dairying. Generic promotion was not therefore among the tasks listed in the polling papers sent to all producers in Great Britain last year and on the basis of which they voted in favour of the establishment of a Milk Development Council.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he has taken to establish the origins of the 1,000 tonnes of fish reported as an extension of the Northern Irish fish entitlement as a result of the debate in the House of 18 January, Official Report, columns 771–822; and if he will make a statement.

As part of the swaps traditionally negotiated each year with other member states following the December Fisheries Council, the United Kingdom this year acquired 750 tonnes of Irish sea cod and 250 tonnes of Irish sea whiting from the Republic of Ireland.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his response to the recommendations in the recent Agriculture Select Committee report on health controls on live animal imports.

The Government have today laid before Parliament a Command Paper which details its response to the various recommendations in the Agriculture Select Committee report on health controls on live animal imports. This welcomes the Agriculture Select Committee's thorough examination of the health controls which operate for agricultural animals, birds and fish and details our intentions for implementing them. We are also pleased to note the Committee's general endorsement of our current health controls on imported livestock and their recognition that these controls enabled the lifting of routine internal border controls to take place on 1 January 1993 without appreciable increase in the risk of livestock disease entering the United Kingdom.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at what time his Ministry's vets reported the first animals loaded on the livestock trucks in respect of the first sailing carrying live farm animals from Shoreham to Dieppe; and at what time the last animals were unloaded and placed in a lairage in France.

This first consignment on the Shoreham-Dieppe route was accompanied by Ministry staff from Shoreham port to the lairage at Dieppe. They reported that the convoy of livestock vehicles was at the dockside at 00.10 hours on 5 January. Loading was completed by 02.10 hours and the vessel left Shoreham at 02.30 hours, arriving at Dieppe at 12.50 hours. Unloading of animals at the lairage was completed at 13.25 hours—all timings are given in British time.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many British fishing vessels he estimates will take up the additional £28 million decommissioning programme.

[holding answer 24 January 1995]: The decommissioning scheme operates through a tendering system in order to obtain best value for money for the available funds. It is not therefore possible to say in advance how many bids will be approved. Details of the uptake of decommissioning in 1993 and 1994 were given in the reply to the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Mr. Salmond) on 20 January 1995, Official Report, columns 736–37.

To ask the Lord President of the Council (1) on how many occasions in the last four months of which he has knowledge any civil servants in his Department have been approached by commercial lobbying organisations on behalf of their clients at informal or unofficial engagements;(2) on how many occasions in the last four months he has been approached by commercial lobbying organisations on behalf of their clients at informal or unofficial engagements.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster today.

To ask the Attorney-General (1) on how many occasions in the last four months of which he has knowledge any civil servants in his Department have been approached by commercial lobbying organisations on behalf of their clients at informal or unofficial engagements;(2) on how many occasions in the last four months he or any of his Ministers have been approached by commercial lobbying organisations on behalf of their clients at informal or unofficial engagements.