To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue he expects to receive from the pool betting duty in (a) the current year and (b) next year. [15399]

[holding answer 21 March 1995]: The amount of pool betting duty receipts is expected to be about £340 million in 1994–95. No separate forecasts are made for pool betting duty for future years.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much tax was received from the pool betting duty in December, January and February 1993–94 and December, January and February 1994–95. [15398]

[holding answer 21 March 1995]: The amount of pool betting receipts for December, January and February 1993–94 was £88.2 million and for December, January and February 1994–95 was £81.6 million.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment he has made of the likely effects of deregulating sports spread betting; [14795](2) what consultations he has had concerning the deregulation of sports spread betting; [14793](3) what alternative forms of regulations he has considered for the control of sports spread betting; [14796](4) what regulations exist to protect participants in spread betting and to ensure they are fully informed of the risks. [14794]

Spread bets are currently regulated as investments under the terms of the Financial Services Act 1986. Companies offering spread betting services are required to become authorised by joining one of the self-regulating organisations recognised under that Act. In doing so, they are subject to detailed conduct of business rules.Spread betting based on matters such as the performance of financial indices will continue to be

Debt written off prior to privatisation
Year	Privatisation	Amount £	Type of Debt
1980–81	British Steel	509,308,359	National loans fund
1980–81	British Aerospace	60,000,000	Public dividend capital
1980–81	National Freight Corporation1	100,000,000	National loans fund
1980–81	British Airways	160,000,000	Public dividend capital
1982–83	British Transport Docks Board2	81,293,616	National loans fund
1984–85	British Telecommunications	2,789,865,772	National loans fund

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if Her Majesty's Government and Bank of England officials will co-operate fully with all requests for informationmade by judicial managers, representatives of SIMEX and other authorised persons in Singapore charged to carry out inquiries into activities at Barings.

[holding answer 13 March 1995]: If any such requests are received by the Treasury, officials will co-operate fully to the extent allowed by the applicable statutory framework and the need to avoid confusion or unnecessary duplication between inquiries. I understand that the Bank of England takes the same view.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what were the total tax receipts for the last financial year from industries that have been denationalised since 1979.

[holding answer 28 February 1995]: Corporation tax receipts in 1994–95 from privatised companies are likely to be £2.5 billion.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will update the answer to the hon. Member for Newham, North-West (Mr Banks) of 17 November 1986, Official Report, column 82, as to the number of individual shareholders retaining shares in each of the concerns privatised since 1979. [15401]

This information is not held centrally, but the number of shareholders may be found in individual companies' annual reports.

To ask the Chancellor of the exchequer what was the total amount of debt written off in each of the privatisations and sale of Government assets since 1979, for each company privatised. [15358]

The table shows the debt written off, and the type of debt concerned, for each company privatised where this occurred. This includes all debt written off since 1979 in companies subsequently privatised. The liability to pay interest on debt remains up to the date of repayment or write-off.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will indicate the administrative costs for the share offers relating to (a) British Gas, (b) the electricity generating companies, (c) the electricity distribution companies, (d) the two Scottish electricity companies and (e) the water companies in the same

Adiministrative costs1 of privatisation
	Year	Selling and other commissions	Marketing2	Recovering bank costs	UK advisers fees	UK underwriting	Other costs3	Total
British Gas	1986	8	36	40	4	53	22	163
Water companies	1989	6.7	36.3	26.1	25.8	33.2	15.4	143.5
Regional electricity companies4	1990	10.5	15.2	92.3	28.8	36.6	18.5	201.9
Generating companies4	1991	3.3	6.9	34.1	17.2	14.9	8.2	84.6
Scottish electricity companies4	1991	4.1	5.9	29.4	19.6	21.5	9.1	89.6
1 Only costs borne by the Exchequer are shown. Costs shown exclude VAT and, where known, stamp duty, the cost of incentives and interest earned on application monies.
2 Including the operation of the share information office.
3 Including overseas expenses.
4 Costs to 31 December 1991.
5 Costs to 31 March 1992.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will provide an estimate of the number of those who will pay income tax in 1995–96; and how many people paid income tax in each year from 1978–79 to 1994–95.

[holding answer 13 March 1995]: Provisional estimates for 1993–94 and onwards are given in the table. Figures for earlier years are available in table 2.1 of "Inland Revenue Statistics 1994", a copy of which is in the Library. The increase in taxpayer numbers is largely due to economic growth. In addition, the number of people in work is increasing—UK work force in employment up 174,000 between December 1993 and December 1994.

Year	estimated numbers of individuals paying tax (millions)
1993–94	25.5
1994–95	25.7
1995–96	26.2

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the numbers of

The table shows the administrative costs for the sales requested.poor people who would be assisted by the zero rating of standing charges in regard to VAT on fuel. [14980]

Zero rating of standing charges would not necessarily help the very poor who frequently are on a prepayment meter tariff which is for a single supply and does not identify a standing charge. The Government have put in place a substantial package of help for those least able to meet the increase in their fuel bills. In addition, the Government have increased funding of the home energy efficiency scheme to £100 million a year from April. The burden of VAT on fuel will bear fully only on people of working age not receiving means-tested benefits.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what tax relief on training costs is given to people who enrol in and pay fees on national vocational qualification and other vocational courses; and if he will make a statement. [15161]

Since 6 April 1992, tax relief has been available to individuals for the payments they make for training capable of counting towards national vocational qualifications and Scottish vocational qualifications, subject to certain conditions. Relief at the basic rate of tax is given by deduction at source from the fees by the trainee, so both taxpayers and non-taxpayers can benefit.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 20 February, Official Report, column 275, on consumer expenditure patterns, if he will ask the Retail Prices Index Advisory Committee to consider how the retail prices index might be modified to take better account of the spending patterns of consumers varying in response to sales and special offers. [15387]

I have no plans to do so. The Retail Prices Index Advisory Committee has recommended repeatedly that the quantities and qualities of the contents of the RPI basket should be held constant during the year. The weights given to different items and types of shop are, therefore, reviewed annually. This reflects changes in consumers' shopping patterns more closely than in most other countries, which only re-weight their indices at intervals of about five years.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made on his Budget proposal to extend personal equity plans to corporate bonds, preference shares and convertibles. [16474]

My right hon. and learned Friend's Budget proposal to admit corporate bonds, preference shares and convertibles to PEPs has been widely welcomed. The Inland Revenue will be issuing draft regulations, for consultation, on 31 March. Comments will be invited as soon as possible, but, in any event, by no later than 12 May. In the light of the consultation, the regulations will be finalised by the end of May, laid before the House in June and, subject to the negative resolution procedure, will come into force three weeks later.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what progress Cumbria TEC is making in meeting the criteria for the award of a three-year licence. [16586]

I am pleased to announce that Cumbria training and enterprise council has now completed the process of meeting the rigorous standard we set for the award of the new three-year licences. Its licence will be effective from April 1995.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the numbers of full-time employees on adult rates in (a) Greater Manchester, (b) Merseyside, (c) Cheshire, (d) Lancashire and (e) the north-west region whose weekly earnings excluding overtime were (i) less than £220 and (ii) less than £200 broken down by the categories (1) manual males, (2) non-manual males, (3) all full-time males, (4) manual females, (5) non-manual females and (6) full-time females giving total numbers of employees in the sample in each case; and what is the number of part-time employees on adult rates in (a) to (e) whose hourly earnings excluding overtime, were (iii) less than £6 and (iv) less than £5.50, broken down by the categories, (7) manual females, (8) non-manual females, (9) all part-time females, (10) manual males, (11) non-manual males and (12) all part-time males, giving total number of employees in the sample in each case.

Information from the 1994 new earnings survey is provided in the following tables:

Full-time employees on adult rates of pay whose pay was not affected by absence for the survey pay period Number in sample with gross weekly earnings, excluding overtime, below the following amounts: April 1994
	Number and percentage of full-time employees with gross weekly earnings less than:
	£220		£200
Manual men
Greater Manchester	766	51.4	552	37.1
Merseyside	267	40.0	193	28.9
Cheshire	268	40.4	207	31.2
Lancashire	396	49.0	296	36.6
North West Region	1,697	46.8	1,248	34.4
Non-manual men
Greater Manchester	330	19.0	260	15.0
Merseyside	154	20.5	117	15.6
Cheshire	83	11.9	63	9.0
Lancashire	173	20.9	137	16.5
North West Region	740	18.4	577	14.4
All men
Greater Manchester	1,096	34.0	812	25.2
Merseyside	421	29.6	310	21.8
Cheshire	351	25.8	270	19.8
Lancashire	569	34.8	433	26.5
North West Region	2,437	31.9	1,825	23.9
Manual women
Greater Manchester	291	86.6	265	78.9
Merseyside	106	88.3	97	80.8
Cheshire	103	75.7	88	64.7
Lancashire	162	88.5	154	84.2
North West Region	662	85.4	604	77.9
Non-manual women
Greater Manchester	734	48.3	573	37.7
Merseyside	387	49.8	296	38.1
Cheshire	274	49.2	211	37.9
Lancashire	393	54.2	316	43.6
North West Region	1,788	49.9	1,396	39.0

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what would be the value of the enterprise allowance at current values if the annual rate of inflation had been applied since the scheme's inception. [15063]

It is estimated that the value of the £40 weekly enterprise allowance, introduced nationally in 1983, would be £69 at current values if the annual rate of inflation had been applied throughout.The standard rate of £40 ceased to apply in 1991 when the programme was renamed the business start-up scheme. Training and enterprise councils, which deliver the scheme, could then pay between £20 and £90 per week.BSUS resources are now part of the single regeneration budget. This will fund locally initiated economic regeneration projects, including start-up activity, where they are proposed and approved.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assessment he has made of health dangers to workers associated with asbestos; if he will provide details of enforcement of existing controls; what new steps his Department proposes to take; and if he will make a statement. [15317]

The most recent formal assessment of the effects on health of exposure to asbestos was conducted by Sir Richard Doll and Professor Julian Peto on behalf of the Health and Safety Commission. The results were published in 1985. Recent research by Professor Peto and the Health and Safety Executive, published in The Lancet on 4 March 1995, has shown that although the assessment is still valid, the extent of occupational exposure to asbestos dust was more widespread than previously thought. That research indicates that those employed in the building maintenance industry such as plumbers and electricians may be at risk from occasional exposure to asbestos installed in existing buildings. HSE is currently mounting a campaign to raise awareness of the risks from asbestos in these occupational groups.All work with asbestos is governed by the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 1987, as amended in January 1993. In addition, the most dangerous—that with asbestos insulation and coating—is covered by the Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations (ALR) 1983. The provisional enforcement figures for 1993–94 are set out in the following table:

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether unemployed people who have once been required to attend either (a) a restart course, or (b) a workwise—worklink in Scotland—course, or (c) a job-plan workshop, and who have fully complied with that requirement, will be free from any subsequent requirements to attend such a workshop or course in a particular spell of unemployment; and if he will make a statement. [15151]

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what provisions apply when a person has to leave training for work or community action because of (a) operational difficulties encountered by their provider, including the unavailability of a suitable work placement, or (b) illness or accident, so as to allow the person to qualify for entry to another training for work or community action place; and if he will make a statement. [15183]

Training and enterprise councils will be required to provide alternative training where a provider is no longer in a position to provide training for work as agreed in the person's individual training plan, so that the individual does not have leave the programme. Where trainees experience an extended period of sickness, they will be able to re-enter the programme without having to requalify.If people have to leave community action due to operational difficulties encountered by the provider or through illness or accident, they are able to rejoin the programme, if they wish to do so, without having to requalify.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if unemployed claimants are offered a place in (a) training for work or (b) community action, or (c) job clubs or (d) the job interview guarantee at a restart or other counselling interview would they lose benefit if they fail to participate; if they take up a place on any of these programmes, if they can leave at any time without incurring a benefit penalty; and if he will make a statement. [15152]

Participation in employment and training programmes is generally voluntary and failure to participate does not carry a benefit sanction. The only exception to this is at the 12 and 24-month stage of unemployment where clients are asked to attend a job plan workshop and restart course respectively unless they take up a place on another Employment Department programme.Consequently, people who agree to participate in one of the programmes listed by the hon. Member but who fail to start, or who leave prematurely, are not usually subject to benefit sanctions. They are, however, interviewed to see if there is a problem, to make sure the course of action previously agreed is still appropriate and to see what other help may be needed.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many doctors were working within the employment medical advisory service for each year since 1979, broken down by region; what studies are currently in progress on the work of EMAS doctors; what are the estimated number of EMAS doctors for (a) 1995–96 and (b) 1996–97 broken down by region; and if he will make a statement. [15136]

The following tables show the numbers of doctors working by region in the Health and Safety Executive's employment medical advisory service on 1 April for each year since 1979.In 1979 EMAS was organised in the following regions:

	Number
Eastern and Midlands	7.0
London and South East	13.5
Northern	5.5
North East	8.5
North West	13.0
Scotland	9.0
South West	6.5
Wales	3.5
West Midlands	9.5

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what records of active job seeking he expects to be kept by claimants who have problems with reading and writing, or whose first language is not English; and if he will made a statement. [15174]

Clients who have problems with reading and writing, or whose first language is not English, are not expected to keep written records. They are asked to provide a verbal account of the steps they have taken to seek work. If they have particular difficulties, I would expect the Employment Service to offer them appropriate advice and assistance.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his policy in respect of the advertising in jobcentres of full-time jobs at (a) £40 and (b) £45 a week; and if he will make a statement. [15788]

Rates of pay for particular jobs are matters for agreement between employers and workers. Jobcentres advise employers who offer vacancies with low pay about the local prevailing rates of pay for the job and their likely prospects of filling the vacancy.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will introduce a standard training qualification to be required of all coastal lifeguards. [14784]

I am replying as Minister responsible for training and vocational qualifications. The Government have no plans to introduce a new qualification to be required of all coastal lifeguards. The Royal Life Saving Society (UK) awards the national beach lifeguarding qualification.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what consideration he has given to amending the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1985 to require cases of repetitive strain injuries to be reported to the Health and Safety Executive; and if he will make a statement. [15213]

The Health and Safety Commission is currently considering the responses to its public consultation document on proposals for change to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1985. The proposals include adding to the regulations' list of reportable diseases certain categories of upper limb disorder, so-called repetitive strain injuries.A copy of the commission's consultation document has been placed in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what steps his Department is taking to (a) monitor the number of men and women dying from mesothelioma, (b) monitor the age of the men and women dying from mesothelioma and (c) estimate the specific years that the victims of mesothelioma faced exposure to asbestos; [15214](2) what steps his Department is taking to monitor the occupational backgrounds of the victims of mesothelioma. [15216]

The Health and Safety Executive receives copies from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys and the General Register Office (Scotland) of all death certificates mentioning mesothelioma. The age, sex, latest full-time occupation, and other details on the death certificate are recorded on a database. Tabulations of mesothelioma deaths by age and sex are published in "Health and Safety Statistics", a copy of which is available in the Library.An analysis of the occupational breakdown of mesothelioma deaths will be published in the "Occupational Health Decennial Supplement", a joint publication by OPCS and HSE, on Thursday 30 March 1995. A copy will be placed in the Library.The timing of mesothelioma victims' asbestos exposure cannot be determined from routine sources. This issue is to be addressed in a planned case control study of mesothelioma cases.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list by region the annual cost of advertising job vacancies in the press and on radio in Scotland. [15597]

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

ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list by region the number of outreach projects providing access to vacancy and advisory services operating in Scotland. [15599]

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to extend the Employment Service freephone services in Scotland. [15598]

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what reserves were held by each TEC at the end of the financial year 1992–93 and 1993–94. [15833]

A list of English training and enterprise councils and their accumulated reserves, as shown in their annual statutory audited accounts, at the end of the financial year 1992–93 and 1993–94 are shown in the following tables:

To ask the Prime Minister what was the amount of money spent on administration and policy formulation by the Prime Minister's office in 1993–94; what are the projections for (a) 1994–95 and (b) 1995–96; and if he will make a statement. [14648]

[holding answer 22 March 1995]: For this purpose, my office is part of the Cabinet Office. I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 22 March 1995 to the hon. Member for Meirionnyd Nant Conwy (Mr. Llwyd) by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Office of Public Service and Science.

To ask the Prime Minister what was the amount of money spent on functions hosted by him in his official capacity as Prime Minister in 1993–94; what are the projections for (a) 1994–95 and (b) 1995–96; and if he will make a statement. [14783]

[holding answer 22 March 1995]: Expenditure from my office's budget on functions hosted by me in my official capacity as Prime Minister in 1993–94 was £33,000; information for projected expenditure is not available.

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will place in the Library a copy of (a) the logo for the Court Service Agency, (b) the winning design, produced by Jeanette Paris, of last year's departmental staff logo competition and (c) such of the Epps Partnership drawings working up the design as are in existence. [15780]

Yes. Arrangements have been made for the designs to be placed in the Library.

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department on what date the case of George Long was referred to the Court of Appeal; whether a date has yet been fixed for the appeal; and if he will make a statement.

The Home Secretary referred the case of George Long to the Court of Appeal on 16 March 1994. The hearing of the appeal was due to take place on 4 April 1995, but was taken out of the list on 20 March 1995 at the request of the parties' solicitors.

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what is the political balance of magistrates within West Yorkshire.

The political balance of magistrates within West Yorkshire on the latest information available is as follows:

• Conservative 566
• Labour 401
• Liberal/Democratic 245
• Independent/Not known 160

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans the Government have to implement the recommendations in the Law Commission's report "Structured settlements and interim and provisional damages". [16476]

The Government welcome the report and will introduce legislation implementing all the recommendations made in it, both on the rationalisation of the structured settlements system and on other aspects of the law of damages, when a suitable opportunity arises.

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans the Government have to implement the recommendations in the Law Commission's report "The Law of Trusts—Delegation by Individual Trustees", Law Com. No. 220. [16477]

The Government have decided to accept the Law Commission's recommendations subject to one amendment, agreed with the commission, which will ensure that there will be no need to renew an enduring power of attorney if the donor of the power has a beneficial as well as a fiduciary interest in the relevant property. The Government will introduce legislation to implement these proposals when a suitable legislative opportunity occurs.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade how much was paid by regional electricity companies to Electricité de France for supplies via the cross-channel interconnector in each of the last five years; and what proportion in cash and percentage terms was accounted for by it being electricity sourced from nuclear power stations. [15839]

The amounts paid for electricity supplies across the interconnector are a commercial matter for the contracting parties. I understand that those RECs with output contracts with EDF have been able to satisfy the Director General of Electricity Supply that the electricity they import from France is supplied from designated nuclear stations.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the value of the electricity supplied by Electricitié de France through the cross-channel interconnector in each of the last five years. [15840]

This is a commercial matter for the parties to the relevant contracts.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade how much electricity was imported from France through the cross-channel interconnector in each of the last five years; and how much was produced by nuclear power. [15842]

Electricity imports from France have been as follows:

• Electricity imports from France, GWh
• Year
• 1990: 11,749
• 1991: 16,466
• 1992: 16,786
• 1993: 16,763
• 1994: 16,942
• Source: National Grid Company plc

I understand that those regional electricity companies with output contracts with Electricitié de France have been able to satisfy the Director General of Electricity Supply that the electricity they import from France is supplied from designated nuclear stations.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment he has made of whether it will be possible to oblige manufacturers of decoding systems for television transmission to fit, in addition to the proprietary conditional access system, a connector to the decoder box for a common interface; and if the Government support the concept of a common interface throughout Europe.

The Government have looked closely at this issue. The development of a common interface for conditional access equipment is an option provided for in the draft EC directive on standards for television broadcasting. A common position on this directive was adopted by the Council on 13 November 1994. The directive is now being considered by the European Parliament. The European Digital Video Broadcasting Group—an industry body with a standard-making role—has developed an agreed technical specification for such an interface. If the directive is adopted in the terms of the common position, the common interface will be an option, but not a requirement, for manufacturers of set-top boxes. However, manufacturers will be obliged to incorporate in equipment the capacity to descramble signals according to a common European algorithm.The Government have supported these developments. The Government consider that it is important that the option of a common interface should be open to manufacturers and to those establishing conditional access systems for digital television. But the Government are also firmly of the view that a common interface should not be mandatory for conditional access systems: such systems involve a considerable investment, and face a real risk of piracy. Not all operators will want manufacturers to install a common interface; they should not be obliged to do so.

DTI surveys commissioned from polling or public survey companies 1993–94
Survey	Objective	Contractor
Enterprise Initiative Tracking Study	Track awareness and perceptions of the Enterprise Initiative programme among businesses	MORI
Evaluation of the LINK programme: Nanotechnology	Evaluate this aspect of the LINK programme	PA Consulting
Survey on small firms publication research	Establish awareness of and attitudes towards Small Firms' division's publications	BLM Research and Marketing
Radiocommunications Agency Customer Survey	Citizens' Charter customer feedback	MORI
Firework Safety Study	Gauge public awareness of/reaction to firework safety publicity to assess 1995 advertising strategy	RSGB
TEC Evaluation	Evaluate TECs' performance	PA Consulting
Renewable Energy Awareness—industrial and commercial sectors	Assess extent of awareness of renewable energy at senior management level	BMRB
Renewable Energy Awareness—general public	Assess extent of public awareness of renewable energy	RSGB

DTI Surveys commissioned from polling or public survey companies 1994–95
Survey	Objective	Contractor
Metrication Survey	Assess public attitudes before implementation of EC Directive on metric food pricing	RSGB
Survey on the United Kingdom Aerospace sector	Assess needs of aerospace sector for DTI services	PA Consulting
Wider Effects of Inward Investment	Assess what are the wider effects of inward investment	PA Consulting
United Kingdom Measurement Foresight programme	Assess long-term metrology requirements of industry from DTI laboratories	PA Consulting
Radiocommunications Agency—Quality of service improvements for Private Mobile Radio (PMR) users	Obtain customer feedback in order to improve service to PMR users	EDS
Radiocommunications Agency Customer Survey	Citizens charter	MORI

To ask the President of the Board of Trade when and in what form he expects to announce the results of the nuclear review. [15447]

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Sherwood (Mr. Tipping) on 19 October 1994, Official Report, column 239.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the employment of polling or public survey organisations by his Department during the current and previous financial years, on the organisations employed by his Department, on the values of individual contracts for these services, on the total amounts of money spent and on the purposes of the research undertaken by these organisations. [14501]

[holding answer 20 March 1995]: The tables list only those surveys commissioned by my Department from polling or public survey organisations in 1993–94 and 1994–95. Information on the individual fees paid cannot be disclosed due to commercial confidentiality considerations, but the total value of those listed was £270,000 in 1993–94 and £329,000 in 1994–95. Most surveys commissioned by my Department are of businesses and are conducted by business consultants or by the Department itself. Polling organisations compete for these contracts in accordance with competitive tendering rules, and sometimes gain contracts for other than polling work.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what recent discussions he has held with regard to allotment holders on British Coal property. [13902]

We are actively pursuing with British Coal options for the future of allotments. No decisions have yet been taken.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade when he expects the Greenbury committee on executive pay to report. [15434]

The CBI announced on 16 January that Sir Richard Greenbury would chair a group to review the structure within which executive remuneration was determined and disclosed. The announcement indicated that the group would aim to report within six months.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what grants, aid or relief are available to companies investing in the United Kingdom from (a) Government, (b) the European Union and (c) local authorities and how much money was granted in each year since 1990 under each source. [15341]

The information requested is not collated. Schemes run by my Department are published annually in "The Government's Expenditure Plans, Trade and Industry", copies of which are available in the Library of the House.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many (a) non-EU and (b) EU foreign companies have invested in the United Kingdom since 1990. [15323]

According to figures notified to my Department's Invest in Britain Bureau, for the financial years 1990 to 1994, from a total of 1,478 inward investment projects in the UK, 983 were from non-EU countries and the remaining 495 from EU countries. These figures are based on information provided by companies at the time of the announcement of the decision to invest, and take no account of subsequent developments.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the value of assets repatriated from the United Kingdom by overseas companies since 1990. [15320]

The information is not available.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will provide a breakdown of the results of the "Competing for Quality" programme, on a Department-by-Department basis, for the years 1992–93 and 1993–94 giving the proportion of work awarded for each Department which was abolished, privatised, contracted out, awarded to the in-house team or led to internal restructuring and the level of savings achieved by each Department.