To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to issue his next consultation document on the Latham report. [31297]

Two consultation documents have recently been issued on legislative proposals arising from recommendations in the Latham report. I have no present plans for any further consultation documents.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what research projects have been commissioned by his Department to investigate the connection between environmental pollutants and the incidence of breast cancer. [31058]

No research projects to specifically investigate the possible connection between environmental pollutants and the incidence of breast cancer have been commissioned by the Department. However, on behalf of the Department, the Medical Research Council's institute for environment and health is carrying out a review of existing literature and scientific opinion on the evidence for changes in human reproductive health, including breast cancer, and effects on wildlife, and to examine the possible links between the production and release into the environment of manmade chemicals, and the observed effects. The institute's report will be published in due course.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will call in Amey Roadstones Corporation's application to expand Whatley quarry.[31059]

This application is currently being considered by Somerset county council. The Whatley quarry article 14 direction is still in place and the Secretary of State will, as he has been requested by a number of representations, consider whether he should call in the revised application for his own determination in due course.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment which consultants, individuals and companies, have been employed by Ofwat since 1993 or are currently employed; on what tasks; how much retainer has been or is paid on a regular basis; and how much they have been paid otherwise for tasks completed or tasks under way. [31364]

This is a matter for the Director General of Water Services.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the external directorships held and remuneration received by the water regulator. [31540]

The Director General of Water Services holds no external directorships.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what change has been made to the financial target for the Buying Agency. [31652]

The Treasury has today laid a minute setting the Buying Agency a target, from 1 July 1995, of 8 per cent. return on capital employed. This replaces the Buying Agency's previous target of a profit after interest in current cost terms of 1.5 per cent. of the total value of goods procured.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what consultations took place before his Department agreed to fund the police management training project in Indonesia; if he consulted (a) the Overseas Development Administration geographical department, (b) the overseas post, (c) the development division and (d) the overseas police adviser; when the project was submitted to his Department for approval; if the submission to his Department was considered by the aid policy department; if the aid policy department considered the question of human rights; what view the aid policy department took of the record of the Indonesian national police in relation to human rights abuses; and on what date ministerial approval was given to the project. [30760]

[holding answer 26 June 19951: Appropriate advice, including that on the issue of human rights, was sought from all relevant quarters prior to the project's approval on 22 March 1990.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 13 June, Official Report columns 504-505, under which sub-division of the tropical forest management programme the local application of remote sensing techniques system was supplied to the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry; what was the value of the equipment supplied; how it was funded; and on what date his Department agreed to fund the project to supply the equipment. [30764]

[holding answer 26 June 1995]: The equipment was provided under sub-project 2, provincial forest management. It cost £30,000 and was financed from technical co-operation funds. Sub-project 2 was approved on 20 July 1993.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 13 June, Official Report, columns 504-505, under which sub-division of the tropical forest management programme the NASA satellite imagery equipment was supplied to the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry; what was the value of the equipment supplied; how it was funded; and on what date his Department agreed to fund the project to supply the equipment. [30765]

[holding answer 26 June 1995]: The NASA satellite imagery, which is digital data used for map making, was provided under sub-project 5. No equipment was bought. The cost of the data was $8,000, and was financed from technical co-operation funds. Sub-project 5 was approved on 1 February 1991.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 15 June, Official Report, column 631, and the ministerial letter of 31 May, in the case of steel bridging, phase 1 project in Indonesia, what was (a) the appraisal date for the Overseas Development Administration and (b) the submission date by the Department of Trade and Industry to the sub-committee on aid and trade; when the project was completed in July 1988; and if he will make a statement on (i) the relationship and (ii) the interval between these dates. [31157]

[holding answer 27 June 1995]: This project was appraised by the Overseas Development Administration in February 1983 and presented to the sub-committee on aid and trade in January 1983. There is nothing of significance in the relationship between these dates and the completion date of the project in July 1988.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the letter from his Minister of 31 May, what considerations made it necessary to refer to the radio studio's rehabilitation project in Indonesia to the sub-committee on aid and trade on four occasions; and what assessment of the project has been made. [31153]

[holding answer 27 June 1995]: When this project was presented to the sub-committee on aid and trade in June 1986, it was combined with that for the Bandung television studios project. Detailed negotiations between the supply company and the Government of Indonesia representatives led to delays as well as changes in the equipment specification. SCAT was apprised of these developments in November 1987 and was also advised that consideration was being given to separating

European social fund allocations to the United Kingdom (including Community initiatives)
£million, 1994 prices
	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	19941
Objective 1
North West England	0	0	0	0	0	36
Scotland	0	0	0	0	0	6
Northern Ireland	56	54	53	59	61	39
Total objective 1	56	54	53	59	61	81
Objective 2
North of England	13	19	19	23	23	21
Yorkshire and Humberside	12	17	17	20	20	19
East Midlands2	0	0	0	0	0	5
South East	0	0	0	0	0	5
South West	0	0	0	0	0	1
West Midlands	8	13	13	16	16	23

the two projects. Formal notification of separation was conveyed to SACT in July 1989 and approval was sought for the radio studios project only. Between then and October 1989 negotiations between the contracting parties were completed and SACT was notified of the final contract costs.A project completion report was prepared in April 1992. It concluded that the outputs of the implementation phases of the project had largely been met.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many voluntary sector organisations his Department has (a) paid grants to or (b) entered into contracts with in (i) 1993–94 and (ii) 1994–95; and what was the total value of these grants and contracts. [31312]

Information held centrally indicates that in 1993–94 the Department of Employment entered into contracts with 187 voluntary sector organisations. The total value of these contracts was £50,057,200. Figures for 1994–95 will not be available until later this year when I will write to the hon. Member with details.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list by each objective and by each other Community initiative, including Rechar and Interreg, the value of assistance received under the European social fund both nationally and for each standard region of the United Kingdom for each year since 1989. [31360]

[holding answer 29 June 1995]: European social fund allocations to the United Kingdom for the period 1989 to 1994 are given in the following table. Figures on individual Community initiatives by standard region are not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Included in the figures for 1994 are those community initiatives which have so far been approved by the Commission, with the exception of EMPLOYMENT and ADAPT for which no expenditure will be recorded for 1994.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the cost to public funds of increasing the £8,000 capital limit for income support and family credit purposes to (a) £15,000, (b) £20,000, (c) £25,000 and (d) £50,000. [27936]

Information concerning people with capital above the upper capital limit is not sufficiently reliable to enable accurate estimates of the cost of increasing the limit to be provided.It is not possible, even if an estimate were made in these premises, to give an answer with meaning because the question does not contain any alternative premise for the tariff income rule.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 27 June, Official Report, column 586, on claims by way of arrears of supplementary benefit, what are the reasons the information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. [31995]

The district of Wrexham and North Wales Coast constitutes the offices of Wrexham, Rhyll, Deeside and Colwyn bay. In June 1994, the office at Wrexham was part of the Mid-Wales and Maelor district. The offices at Rhyll, Deeside and Colwyn bay formed the totally separate district of North Wales Coast.To obtain the information requested would involve the offices in recovering their giro records for June 1994; identifying the claimants and locating their clerical records; identifying those cases where the payment issued was supplementary benefit; and, as appropriate, identifying the sums involved.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the average pensioner income on retirement in (a) 2010 and (b) 2020, relative to average earnings, broken down into the contributions from (i) the state retirement benefit, (ii) state earnings-related schemes, (iii) appropriate personal pension schemes and (iv) occupational pensions; and if he will indicate the assumptions made in these calculations. [30788]

The information is not available in the form requested.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the expenditure of the Child Support Agency in each year since its inception on legal fees incurred in defending actions by non-resident parents. [31205]

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Islington, North (Mr. Corbyn) on 25 November 1994, Official Report, columns 889–90.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what are the current plans and facilities in Doncaster and Mexborough district benefit offices in respect of providing play areas. [31094]

At present, there are no play areas in any of these offices, although baby changing facilities are provided at each location.A new benefit office for Doncaster is currently under construction. There is insufficient space within the planned Benefits Agency caller facility for inclusion of a separate play area at this stage. However, the Child Support Agency will be providing toys in its interview rooms at the new office.At Mexborough, all caller inquiries are dealt with by BA staff and there are no dedicated CSA interviewing facilities. There are no plans to provide a play area in the BA facility due to insufficient space.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what arrangements he is making for revised submissions in the event of changes to the alignment, tunnelling or stations currently proposed for the channel tunnel rail link. [31726]

The Government have no plans to change the route or stations of the channel tunnel rail link. If the House required any change, the procedures set down in Standing Orders would apply.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out the current timetable for privatising (a) Railtrack, (b) British Rail's infrastructure maintenance units, (c) British Rail's track renewal units, (d) Signalling Control UK, (e) Interlogic Control Engineering and (f) British Rail Telecoms. [31593]

Railtrack is to be privatised within the lifetime of this Parliament. BR's infrastructure maintenance units and track renewal units are expected to be sold by the end of the year. Signalling Control UK, Interlogic Engineering and British Rail Telecoms have recently been offered for sale to the private sector; BR aims to complete the sales as soon as possible.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out the timetable for privatising each of the British Rail train operating units. [31594]

In December 1994, the franchising director invited interested parties to prequalify in respect of eight franchises; Great Western LTS Rail, South West Trains, Gatwick Express, Network South Central, Intercity East Coast, Midland Main Line and ScotRail. Invitations to tender in respect of Great Western, LTS Rail and South West Trains were issued in May. The franchising director aims to let the first franchises by the end of 1995. He aims to issue further invitations to tender later this year. The remaining franchises are being prepared in accordance with the franchising director's view of their readiness of sale.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer on 21 April, Official Report, column 299, if he will set out the current timetable for privatising the British Rail civil engineering design offices in (a) Birmingham, (b) Croydon, (c) Glasgow, (d) Swindon and (e) York; and if the BR vendor unit expects to sell all the offices to the same bidder. [31641]

The BR board's negotiations with bidders for these offices are well advanced. The board hopes to complete most of them shortly; it does not envisage selling all the offices to the same bidder.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made on the effectiveness of concrete crash barriers on motorways. [30491]

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend for Meriden (Mr. Mills) on 29 June, Official Report, column 745.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the DBFO schemes in operation. [31836]

No DDFO schemes are in operation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many air flights per day take place between the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, France and Germany respectively. [31532]

[holding answer 29 June 1995]: On average, the total number of non-stop flights per day between the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, France and Germany respectively is as follows:

• United Kingdom/United Arab Emirates—15
• France/United Arab Emirates—3
• Germany/United Arab Emirates—5

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research has been conducted by her Department on Hepatitis C in the last 10 years; and at what cost. [30466]

The Department of Health is funding two pieces of work at the public health laboratory service. One is a feasibility study to develop a programme of surveys to determine and monitor the prevalence of hepatitis C infection in England and Wales and the approximate cost is £78,000. The other is a project to investigate the economic detection of antibody to hepatitis C virus in pooled serum samples and the approximate cost is £48,000.The main agency through which the Government support bio-medical and clinical research is the Medical Research Council which receives a grant in aid from the office of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.The MRC has the following programme of research on hepatitis C:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the safe limit recommended by her Department for men and women for alcohol use daily and weekly in units; and what plans she has to change these recommended limits. [31351]

The current sensible drinking message is that drinking less than 21 units per week by men and 14 units per week by women is unlikely to damage health.

Breakdown of total NHS revenue expenditure 1979–80 to 1993–941
Year	Percentage Wages2	Percentage Drugs3	Percentage Transport4 5	Percentage Equipment4 6	Percentage Other7	Total revenue expenditure £ million
1979–80	57.7	11.4	-	-	31.0	6,925
1980–81	59.2	10.7	-	-	30.1	8,864
1981–82	57.9	11.0	-	-	31.1	9,891
1982–83	56.6	11.7	0.5	4.8	24.4	10,739
1983–84	56.3	12.3	0.5	4.5	26.5	11,397
1984–85	55.6	12.1	0.4	4.5	27.4	12,191
1985–86	55.5	12.2	0.5	4.6	27.3	12,873
1986–87	55.9	12.3	0.4	4.6	26.8	13,810
1987–88	56.1	12.5	0.4	4.4	26.6	15,162
1988–89	56.5	12.5	0.4	4.2	26.5	17,005
1989–90	56.5	12.9	0.5	4.2	25.9	18,236
1990–91	56.1	12.6	0.5	3.9	26.9	20,102
1991–92	49.9	11.5	0.4	3.7	34.5	25,302
1992–93	48.1	11.5	0.4	3.7	36.4	28,551
1993–94	46.2	12.0	0.4	3.9	37.5	30,364
Source:
Annual accounts—1979–80 to 1990–91—and annual financial returns—1991–92 to 1993–94—of regions, districts and special health authorities for the London postgraduate hospitals and family health services authorities, and annual financial returns of NHS trusts—1991–92 to 1993–94.
Notes:
1Figures since 1991–92 are not directly comparable with earlier years owing to changes in accounting policy—for example, the introduction of capital charges—as a result of the NHS reforms.
2Gross pay costs of hospital and community health service staff and family health services authority administration staff, including employers' national insurance and superannuation contributions, but excluding remuneration of FHS contractors.
3Drugs are based on the cost of HCHS and family health service drugs and appliances—after deduction of pharmaceutical price regulation scheme receipts, etcetera—and costs met through prescription charges but do not include dispensing fees.
4Not separately identified in financial years 1979–80 to 1981–82 inclusive.
5Transport and moveable plant.
6Including associated maintenance costs. Excludes capital expenditure on items of equipment.
7Including capital charges from 1991–92 inclusive and remuneration of FHS contractors. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many glaucoma sufferers there are in Britain. [31402]

The information is not available centrally.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 19 June, Official Report, column 36, on health authority termination payments, if she will indicate (a) the number, (b) the rank and (c) the amount paid to each individual. [32022]

Each of the 12 payments listed was to an individual health authority manager: 11 general managers and one senior manager.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of the NHS budget was spent on (a) wages, (b) drugs, (c) equipment, (d) vehicles and (e) other items in each of the last 15 years. [28640]

[holding answer 15 June 1995J: The available information on revenue expenditure is shown in the table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the response to the recent publication of the handbook on child and adolescent mental health; and if she will make a statement. [32469]

The handbook, copies of which are available in the Library, has been warmly welcomed by all those working in the field as providing a clear statement of the importance of child and adolescent mental health and the need for a variety of agencies to work together to provide a comprehensive and complementary range of services. It was issued in March as part of our programme to help in the development of mental health services for the young, under "The Health of the Nation" initiative, and it has proved to be such a success that we are already having to reprint it within weeks of its launch.

To ask the Attorney-General on what dates in 1990 meetings were held with representatives of Customs and Excise to discuss the prosecution of Chris Cowley and Peter Mitchell for allegedly breaking the arms embargo with Iraq and Iran; and on what date senior Treasury counsel provided advice on the question of bringing a prosecution against Mr. Cowley and Mr. Mitchell. [29261]

[holding answer 19 June 1995]: I reply in relation to meetings and advice involving the Law Officers or their officials. Detailed information relating to the conduct of an individual criminal case is ordinarily confidential but has in this particular case already been substantially disclosed.I understand that between April and November 1990 there were a number of conferences between representatives of Customs and Excise and senior Treasury counsel. One member of the legal secretariat to the Law Officers was present at such a meeting held on 25 April 1990. Another member attended two meetings in October 1990.My predecessor and I met with the Solicitor to Customs and Excise and counsel on 8 November 1990. I was at that time Solicitor-General. My predecessor also met the chairman of the commissioners of HM Customs and Excise together with their solicitor on 9 November 1990.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he plans to announce the arrangements for the continuation of the pilot nitrate sensitive areas. [32577]

I am pleased to announce that, following our consultations with farmers, details of the scheme for the continuation of the 10 pilot NSAs, originally designated in 1990, will be available from Monday 3 July. The necessary statutory instrument setting out the measures and associated payment rates will shortly be laid before Parliament.The pilot areas are being incorporated within the scheme for the 22 new NSAs launched under the Ministry's agri-environment programme last year, to form a unified scheme of 32 NSAs. Farmers in the areas will be invited to give five-year undertakings to change their farming practices to reduce nitrate leaching, based on the terms and conditions of that scheme.The pilot NSA scheme clearly demonstrated that NSA measures are effective in reducing nitrate losses from agricultural land and I look forward to renewing our partnership with farmers in these 10 areas. The level of uptake in the first year of the 22 new NSAs was very encouraging and I am confident that the Ministry's NSA programme will make a major contribution towards ensuring the future viability of the key sources of public drinking water covered by these areas.All farmers with land in the NSAs will automatically be sent an information pack about the scheme by their local Ministry regional service centre. Applications to join the scheme this year must be returned to regional service centres by 8 September 1995.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what powers he has to intervene if reductions in funding threaten the quality of standards he has imposed on courses at St. Andrew's college, Bearsden. [30492]

The Secretary of State does not have any powers under the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992 to require conditions to be attached to grants paid by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council to individual institutions. It is for the council to decide how to allocate the resources available to it taking into account its assessment of quality of teaching, and other relevant evidence as to the needs of an individual institution and the higher education institution sector as a whole. Courses of initial teacher training are subject to the approval of my right hon. Friend and must comply with the guidelines issued by the Scottish Office Education Department.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list for each Department in the Scottish Office, expressed as a number and a percentage, (a) civil servants who have left the service and their grade, (b) voluntary redundancies and their grade, (c) compulsory redundancies and their grade and (d) those given early retirement and their grade for (i) 1991, (ii) 1992, (iii) 1993, (iv) 1994 and (v) 1995. [31290]

This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland on what dates and by whom, sample valuations have been carried out on the Forestry Commission estate, in the last five years. [30817]

[holding answer 28 June 1995]: The Forestry Commission carried out a full open market valuation of its forest estate in 1993. Full details are given in the commission's annual report of the year ended 31 March 1993, a copy of which is in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many 16 and 17-year-olds were seeking training places in each division of every regional council in Scotland on 1 June; and what was the number of vacancies. [27576]

[holding answer 21 June 1995]: The number of young people under 18 years of age seeking training places and the number of training vacancies on 31 May are shown in the following table. Information is not available to split these figures into smaller areas.The number of vacant places on a given day is only a snapshot and does not reflect the total supply of places which would be available over the specified time scale for making offers to young people.

Careers service area	Number seeking training	Number of vacancies
Borders	107	90
Central	254	145
Dumfries and Galloway	93	123
Fife	390	380
Grampian	293	1-
Highland	116	145
Lothian	701	471
Tayside	462	296
Orkney	3	50
Shetland	8	12
Western Isles	12	32
Argyll	42	52
Ayr	445	538
Dumbarton	268	143
Glasgow	565	655
Lanark	339	240
Renfrew	262	253
Total	4,360	13,670
1Figures are not available for Grampian Enterprise area.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners have undergone penile plesythmograph tests; how many of these prisoners have not been convicted of sex offences; and in how many cases home leave or release dates have been altered as a result of the findings of these tests. [30063]

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many young offenders convicted in the last year were (a) illiterate, (b) released from care, (c) suffering from drug or any other addiction or (d) suffering from mental illness. [30988]

The information is not collected centrally on the number of offenders who are illiterate, suffering from drug or any other addiction or who have been released from care.Court information collected centrally on mentally disordered offenders is limited to those who have committed a more serious offence and as such have been convicted under sections 37 and 41 of the Mental Health Act 1983.In 1993, one male aged between 14 and 18 was convicted of the offence of arson and sent to hospital under section 37(1) of the Mental Health Act 1983. A further male offender within the same age group was found guilty of robbery and sentenced to a hospital order with restriction under sections 37 and 41 of the Mental Health Act 1983.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison inmates serving a sentence of over 10 years' imprisonment have been granted home leave during the last 12 months. [31100]

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times the contractor at Doncaster prison has failed to deliver the contracted service; how many times a financial remedy has been imposed against the contract; and if he will make a statement. [31092]

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many private shopping visits were made by prison officers on behalf of prison inmates in England and Wales during the week of 12 June. [31101]

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the number and percentage of visitors in 1992 and 1993 who overstayed without authorisation having had their appeals upheld. [31979]

The information requested is not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to collate information centrally about the number of police stations that have or are planning special domestic violence units. [31324]

[holding answer 29 June 1995]: We recognise the important work carried out by specialist domestic violence units. The extent of provision in this area will be considered by the official and ministerial groups on domestic violence.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to collate information centrally about the number of crimes of domestic violence (a) alleged, (b) investigated by the police, (c) prosecuted, (d) resulting in conviction and (e) resulting in a custodial sentence each year, and about the relationships between offender and victim in each of these categories. [31325]

[holding answer 29 June 1995]: The official and ministerial groups on domestic violence will shortly be looking at ways of improving the statistical knowledge of the nature and extent of domestic violence.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the ministerial group on domestic violence will next meet; and if it has already decided when to publish the inter-agency circular on domestic violence. [31326]

[holding answer 29 June 1995]: Plans are in hand to hold the next meeting of the ministerial group on domestic violence at the earliest possible opportunity. The launch date of the inter-agency circular on domestic violence has not been finalised.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to publish the inter-agency circular on domestic violence; and if he will list the individuals and organisations to which it will be sent. [31327]

[holding answer 29 June 1995]: The proposed inter-agency circular is in the final stages of preparation and will be issued as soon as possible. Although a definitive list of the individuals and organisations to which it will be sent remains to be finalised, it will include the groups referred to in a reply to a question I gave to the hon. Member on 20 January, Official Report, column 696.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many officials, and of what grade, his Department has employed to deal with the problem of domestic violence in each of the last 10 years. [31328]

[holding answer 29 June 1995]: Responsibility for work on domestic violence cuts across a number of areas and grades within the Home Office. Since 1993 the work has been co-ordinated by a unit led by a grade 7 in the criminal policy division of the Home Office.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will detail the powers of entry available to local education authority child employment officers; and what plans she has to strengthen and extend such powers. [31707]

Section 28(1) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 provides for a local authority to apply to a justice of the peace for an order to give child employment officers powers of entry. This legislation is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health. I understand that she has no plans to strengthen or extend this power.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she intends to make funds available to local education authorities in England and Wales specifically to carry out their statutory duty to protect school age children at work. [31708]

Central Government set the overall framework for the funding of local authority services nationally. It is for each local education authority to determine its own priorities for expenditure. Funding for Wales is a matter for the Welsh Office.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment she has made of the work of the child employment departments in Birmingham and North Tyneside in enforcing legislation designed to protect school age children. [31712]

None.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will instruct all local education authorities to adopt the system of enforcing legislation designed to protect school age children at work in use in Birmingham and North Tyneside. [31709]

It is for individual local education authorities to consider how best to fulfil their statutory duties in this area in the light of local circumstances.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will produce costings for the Northern Ireland Assembly and associated constitutional structures as proposed in the framework document. [31000]

It is not possible at this stage to provide costings for a future Northern Ireland Assembly and associated constitutional structures as envisaged in the framework document. Estimates of such costs will only be possible only after the details of the arrangements have been negotiated and agreed with the relevant Northern Ireland parties and the British and Irish Governments.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what proposals he has for the safeguarding of adult education and the education of those with special needs after education colleges are incorporated; [31428](2) with whom incorporated further education colleges will be required to discuss their plans for educational activities. [31429]

I am aware of the concerns expressed on these issues and I can assure the hon. Member that, if we proceed with the proposals on incorporation, we will consider very carefully with the further education sector the impact on such areas and the need for adequate consultative arrangements.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he is taking to ensure that the allocation of further European Union funds in Northern Ireland reflects the level of deprivation and grass roots needs and involvement. [31431]

Regarding the special support programme for peace and reconciliation, the guidelines for the initiative state that all communities should benefit while focusing on the areas and sections of the population suffering most acute deprivation. This is reflected in the programme recently submitted to the European Commission. To ensure that grass roots needs are reflected, the Government have carried out an extensive round of consultation with interested bodies and individuals, which has been invaluable in drafting the programme. Grass roots interests will continue to be involved both through continued consultation during implementation and the mechanisms used to deliver the programme. In implementing the single programme document and Community initiatives programmes agreed for Northern Ireland over the period 1994 to 1999, due consideration is given to addressing deprivation and social need on the basis of specific criteria laid down and approved by the European Commission within the SPD and other programme documents.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he will take to repeal all of the provisions of the Act for the Better Observation of the Lord's Day, commonly called Sunday, AD 1695. [31288]

[holding answer 29 June 1995]: The Government have no plans at present to repeal all the provisions of the Sunday Observance Act (Ireland) 1695. Ministers are at present considering the responses received to consultation papers published earlier this year on Sunday racing, betting and sport and Sunday trading. If it is decided to relax the current legislative restrictions on these matters, some action to amend, repeal in part or disapply the 1695 Act may be necessary.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what is the total expenditure of (a) the Local Enterprise Development Unit and (b) Industrial Development Board in each of the parliamentary constituencies of Northern Ireland for each of the last 10 years; [29972](2) what is the total number of full-time jobs, both from inward investment and expansion of existing companies, created in each constituency for each of the last 10 years as a result of this expenditure. [29974]

Information on expenditure and job creations is not recorded in a manner which readily lends itself to analysis by parliamentary constituency. However, an exercise is being undertaken to produce as much as possible of the information in the form requested. My noble Friend hopes to write to the hon. Member about the matter soon. Information on job promotions by district council area is available from IDB and the results of the last 10 years are set out in the table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of the road traffic offences recorded in Northern Ireland since 1990 were committed by drivers who had been qualified to drive for less than one year. [31046]

The information requested is not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many calls have been received by the RUC on the confidential telephone number every year since 1985. [31047]

The information is as follows:

Year	Number of calls
1985	1,406
1986	2,300
1987	1,953
1988	2,948
1989	2,321
1990	2,841
1991	3,819
1992	22,062
1993	24,442
1994	19,189
19951	3,783
1 To 31 May.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) sexual offences and (b) offences against the person have been reported in Northern Ireland since 1985. [31044]

The information requested is as follows:

	Sexual offences	Offences against the person
1985	653	3,458
1986	834	4,205
1987	817	4,198
1988	779	3,469
1989	935	3,338
1990	790	3,374
1991	877	3,995
1992	973	4,102
1993	1,187	4,597
1994	1,333	4,793

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement about his proposals for nursery education in Northern Ireland. [31430]

In 1994, the Government published a comprehensive policy statement on early years provision in Northern Ireland, including their objectives for nursery education.As the Prime Minister reiterated recently, the Government are committed to a major expansion of pre-school provision throughout the United Kingdom. Proposals to achieve this in Northern Ireland will be announced shortly.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs who is the latest British nominee to the International Court of Justice. [31649]

Professor Rosalyn Higgins has been formally nominated as a candidate for election to the International Court of Justice by the national groups at the Permanent Court of Arbitration of 15 countries, including the British. There are no other candidates. The Government fully support Professor Higgins. The vote will take place on 12 July.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions took place during the recent meeting between the British Government and representatives of the Government of China on the future of the death penalty in Hong Kong, after July 1997; and if he will make a statement. [31369]

The death penalty was abolished in Hong Kong by the Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance in April 1993. Under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the laws previously in force in Hong Kong shall be maintained, save for any that contravene the Basic Law and subject to any amendment by the Hong Kong special administrative region legislature. Reintroduction of the death penalty after 1997 would, therefore, be a matter for the HKSAR rather than the Chinese Central People's Government.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 21 June, Official Report, column 302, if he will exceptionally disclose if lethal military equipment of any type has been supplied to Nigeria for peacekeeping since December 1993. [31343]

I have nothing further to add to the answer I gave to the hon. Member on 21 June, Official Report, column 302.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish the final outturn in Wales of (a) objective 1 areas, (b) objective 3 areas, (c) objective 4 areas and (d) objective 5b areas; and if he will also indicate the underspend on each programme. [29989]

There are no objective 1 areas in Wales. For objectives 3 and 4, separate information for Wales is not available before 1993. In 1993, the final amount claimed from the Commission for Wales was £21.56 million. Underspend information is not disaggregated regionally, and is not yet available for 1993. For objective 5b, the total amount available under the 1992–93 Dyfed Gwynedd Powys programme—some £26 million—was allocated to projects by the end of 1993; since projects are not required to be physically and financially complete until 31 December 1995, it is not yet possible to indicate any underspend under the programme.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the recorded levels of sheep scab in each of the last five years. [31243]

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Glanford and Scunthorpe (Mr. Morley) on 25 January 1995, Official Report, column 269.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales for what reasons the Countryside Council for Wales is not represented on the objective 5b programme monitoring committee for Wales; and what the EU guideline is on this subject. [30266]

Detailed provisions for the administration of the rural Wales objective 5b programme are for the implementing authority, in this case the Welsh Office. Although the Countryside Council for Wales is not directly represented on the monitoring committee, a member of the council—Mr. Tom Jones—sits on the committee, and the council is represented on the technical group, which has responsibility for considering individual applications for grant assistance. In addition, the council was closely involved with the preparation of the single programming document for rural Wales. These arrangements comply with the terms of the European legislation, which require that the competent environmental authorities are associated with the preparation and implementation of the single programming document.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales pursuant to note 4 of his answer to the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies) of 7 June, Official Report, column 254, whether the figure of 193 given as the reduction in the number of administrative and managerial staff below the peak level included clerical staff. [31984]

The reduction of 193 between September 1993 and March 1995 included all staff on administrative and clerical pay scales.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales pursuant to note 4 of his answer to the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies) of 7 June, Official Report, column 254, (1) what was the peak level of administrative and managerial staff in the health service in Wales; and whether the figures referred to in note 4 for 1994–95 will be comparable to those figures given in column 1 of his answer to the hon. Member for Caerphilly of 13 December 1994, Official Report, columns 605–606; [31983](2) on what date he expects the publication of the figures for the numbers of administrative and managerial staff in the health service in Wales in 1994–95. [31982]

The latest available information on the whole-time equivalent number of administrative and clerical staff in the NHS in Wales was published in a Welsh Office statistical release, "NHS Wales: quarterly Statistics", issued on 14 June 1995. Figures for March 1994—when the number of these staff reached their peak—are also shown in the release. Copies were sent to all Members representing constituencies in Wales and were placed in the Library of the House. The figures quoted in the release are comparable with the numbers given to the hon. Member for Caerphilly on 13 December.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Caerphilly of 7 June, Official Report, column 254, what were the total costs of (a) managers, (b) administrators and (c) medical staff in the health service in Wales in 199495; and what were the corresponding numbers of staff in each category. [31981]

Information on the costs of staff in 1994–95 is not yet available. Data on medical and dental staff are collected on an annual basis—at 30 September. The latest complete information is given in the following table.

	Staff in post at 30 September 1994
Administrative and clerical1	9,905
Medical and front line support: Directly employed NHS staff2	34,571
FHSA contractual staff3	3,087
Notes:
1 Whole-time equivalents. Includes all administrative, clerical and managerial staff employed by health authorities, NHS trusts, family health services authorities and the Welsh Health Common Services Authority.
2 Whole-time equivalents. Includes:
—medical and dental staff, working in the hospital and community health service, excluding hospital practitioners and clinical assistants
— nurses and midwives, excluding pre-registration learners
—professional and technical staff
Since 1991, student and pupil nurses have been classified as students and are no longer included in NHS staff figures.
3Numbers. Includes GPs, principal and assistant dentists, ophthalmic medical practitioners and ophthalmic opticians. Staff directly employed by contractual staff—for example, practice nurses—are not included since complete information is not collected centrally.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has with the chairman of the South Glamorgan health authority concerning the appointment of a panel of independent experts to examine the difference of opinion between the authority and the Cardiff community health council in relation to accident and emergency department and trauma unit relocation from Cardiff royal infirmary to the University hospital of Wales; and if he will make a statement. [31988]

None. Officials were informed of the health authority's proposals to commission an independent review and it is clearly understood that the authority will decide on the review panel's membership and remit.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 18 May, Official Report, column 372, how many members of staff have now accepted voluntary redundancy terms; how many have actually left; and how many expected to leave under such terms in the rest of the present financial year. [31991]

Sixty-one staff have accepted voluntary redundancy terms, 52 have left. No firm estimate has been made for the remainder of the present financial year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what were the total figures for the numbers of staff employed in his Department for the latest convenient month; and if he will list the figure for the same month in each of (a) 1992, (b) 1993 and (c) 1994 excluding any effects of changes in departmental responsibility. [31985]

The full-time equivalent number of staff employed by the Welsh Office in June 1995 was 2,450. The nearest equivalent figures for previous years, adjusted to relate to current departmental responsibilities were:

• 1992: 2,535
• 1993: 2,612
• 1994: 2,609

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to appoint a political adviser. [31989]

Michael McManus is still my special adviser.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on what date he estimates the final outturn figures for his departmental expenditure for the year 1994–95 to be published; and what is his current estimate of management running cost line final outturn figures for 1994–95 for (a) training and enterprise councils, (b) the office of Her Majesty's inspectorate of schools in Wales, (c) Cadw and (d) the Welsh Office in total. [31986]

The Welsh Office appropriation accounts for 1994–95, including details of administration costs, are due to be published by the National Audit Office in October. Provisional running cost outturn figures for 1994–95 are as follows:

	£ million
TEC management fees	9.7
Cadw	4.9
Rest of Welsh Office	63.1
Total Welsh Office running costs	77.7

The provisional running cost outturn for the office of Her Majesty's chief inspector of schools in Wales, which does not form part of the Welsh Office, is £3.2 million.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what proposals he has to amend current policy on (a) hospital closures, (b) bureaucracy in the health service, (c) public expenditure controls and (d) departments' staffing levels; and what other plans he has to review his predecessor's policies. [31990]