To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee if she will list the House passes issued to individuals who also work as employees of, directors of or consultants to (a) Prima Europe, (b) LLM (Lawson Lucas Mendelsohn) and (c) GPC Market Access. [50612]

Such information is not required of applicants for House of Commons photographic passes.However, holders of such passes who work for hon. Members as secretaries or research assistants do have to supply the Registrar of Members' Interests with full details of any other relevant gainful occupation which they may pursue other than that for which the pass was issued. This information is available for inspection by hon. Members in the Library.

To ask the Chairman of the Information Committee what assessment he has made of the impact of the year 2000 computer bug on the operation of the House of Commons. [50172]

The House of Commons has been actively involved in assessing the Year 2000 problem for some time, and has commissioned a working party under the management of the Network Administrator's Group (NAG). This forum has produced the 'Year 2000 Implementation Guide for the Houses of Parliament', and contains a 'Definition of Year 2000 Conformity Requirements' prepared by the British Standards Institution committee, (their reference BDD/1/-/3). The NAG forum has tested and identified a set of tools and procedures for remedial action.Each department in the House of Commons is busy developing a project plan, using these NAG recommendations, to ensure their systems are fully compliant. As part of this plan PCD will facilitate a test schedule for weeks commencing the 10 and 17 August 1998 so that all departments can test their computer equipment with the PDVN.

To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee what is the latest available annual figure for the amount of money spent on the provision of toilet rolls, hand towels and dryers and soap in the Palace of Westminster. [50171]

This is a matter for the Serjeant at Arms; I have asked him to reply to the hon. Gentleman.

To ask the Prime Minister what complaints he has received since 2 May 1997 from editors or news editors of improper pressure on their journalists by his, or his Cabinet colleagues', media relations staff. [50534]

None.

To ask the Prime Minister on what occasions (a) he and (b) civil servants at No. 10 Downing Street have met representatives of (i) GPC Market Access, (ii) Lawson Lucas Mendelsohn and (iii) GJW Government Relations since 1 May 1997; who these representatives were; and what was discussed at the meetings. [50557]

To ask the Prime Minister (1) if he will list the occasions on which any director of Prima Europe or GPC Market Access has visited No. 10 Downing Street, since 1 May 1997; [50475](2) if he will list the occasions on which Mr. Roger Liddle has visited the premises of or met any director of GPC Market Access and Prima Europe since 1 May 1997. [50474]

Ministers, their Special Advisers and other civil servants meet many people in the course of their work. This properly includes meetings with interest groups outside Government; indeed one of the specific functions of Special Advisers is to liaise with such interest groups. This liaison is intended to help Ministers draw upon outside contributions—from academics, think-tanks, trade and industry associations, trade unions, lobby groups and others, as well as relevant experience from other countries—during the process of policy analysis and development. By convention it is not the practice of Governments to make information on such meetings or their content publicly available—a principle reflected in the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information published in January 1997. Special advisers and other civil servants must observe the requirements of propriety: for instance, they must not provide confidential information without authorisation or allow improper influence on policy. Any breach of these requirements could be a disciplinary offence.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the occasions when Roger Liddle has addressed meetings set up by (a) GPC Market Access and (b) other lobbying organisations, indicating whether these meetings were held under Chatham House rules. [50462]

Special Advisers and other civil servants address events arranged by outside organisations on many occasions, since part of their role is to inform the public and interested bodies about Government policy. Whether any such meetings are held publicly or privately, Special Advisers must observe the requirements of propriety: for instance, they must not provide confidential information without authorisation or allow improper influence on policy.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade when inspectors were appointed to investigate the 1991 flotation of the Mirror Group; and what their terms of reference were. [49510]

[holding answer 8 July 1998]: The inspectors were appointed on 8 June 1992 to investigate and report on the affairs and membership of Mirror Group Newspapers plc. They were asked to look, in particular, at the offers for sale of the company's shares in early 1991.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to her answer of 2 July 1998, Official Report, column 240, when she expects to receive the report from the inspectors investigating the 1991 flotation of the Mirror Group; and what steps she has taken to expedite the report. [49512]

[holding answer 8 July 1998]: It is not possible to forecast the timing of the completion of an investigation of this kind. Inspectors have a distinct statutory position and are independent of my Department. The inspectors are aware of the need to complete their inquiry and report as quickly as possible, consistent with the necessity for them to act fairly.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade when she expects to publish the inspectors' report into the circumstances of the Mirror Group flotation. [50338]

The inspectors have not yet reported to the Secretary of State. A decision on publication will be taken when the report has been received and fully considered.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if there has been further investigation of the unaccounted for highly enriched uranium referred to in the Dounreay Shaft Inventory. [50256]

I refer the hon. Member to my reply of 10 June 1998, Official Report, columns 594–95.The Safeguards Office of my Department is studying the nuclear material accountancy aspects of the UKAEA report "Dounreay Shaft Inventory". In addition, the Safeguards Office study will take into account any further information from UKAEA. The conclusions of the study will be made public.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will publish the external financing limit for the Post Office for 1998–99. [50812]

As announced by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Post Office is able to carry forward an external financing limit (EFL) over-achievement under the nationalised industries end-year flexibility scheme. The Post Office over-achieved its 1997/98 EFL by £25m, and therefore its negative EFL for 1998/99 has been reduced from -£335 million to -£310 million.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what discussions she has had with other EU member states with regard to encouraging closer trading links between the EU and NAFTA. [48732]

During our Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers, the UK hosted EU summits with both the USA and Canada to encourage closer trading links. On 25 May the General Affairs Council also approved negotiating directives for the Commission to pursue the liberalisation of trade with Mexico, as foreseen in the Agreements between the EU and Mexico signed in Luxembourg on 8 December 1997.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what research he has evaluated into the number of pharmacies in the United Kingdom per 10,000 population relative to those in other EU countries. [48223]

[holding answer 30 June 1998]: I have been asked to reply.None.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment she has made of the advantages of regulating prices of over-the-counter medicines; and what research she has evaluated as to practice in other EU countries. [48222]

[holding answer 30 June 1998]: I have been asked to reply.We have not considered regulating the prices of over-the-counter medicines, nor have we carried out specific research into practice in other European Union countries. At the 18 May 1998 meeting of the EU Internal Market Council, held under the United Kingdom Presidency, member states agreed unanimously to further pursuit of the single market in over-the-counter medicines, including price liberalisation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans her Department has to correspond electronically with (a) hon. Members and (b) members of the public. [49887]

[holding answer 13 July 1998]: Each of the Northern Ireland Departments and the Northern Ireland Office has a Web site which includes an Internet e-mail address. The latter enables hon. Members and members of the public to communicate electronically with Departments and for responses to be provided using the same medium.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will make a statement on the membership, indicating which organisations members will be drawn from, and the role of the Northern Ireland Civic Forum. [50194]

The Civic Forum will comprise representatives of the business, trade union and voluntary sectors and such other sectors as agreed by the First and Deputy Ministers of the new Northern Ireland Assembly. The Forum will act as a consultative body on social, economic and cultural issues.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate she has made of the number of people suffering from dementia in Northern Ireland. [50219]

Figures on the actual incidence of people with dementia are not available as many sufferers are not in contact with services. Based on surveys elsewhere of the prevalence of dementia within the population it is estimated that in Northern Ireland there could be some 13,500 people suffering from one or other of the various forms of the disease.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will list the organisations in receipt of funding from the Central Community Relations Unit in (i) 1995, (ii) 1996 and (iii) 1997, giving in each case the amount. [50190]

The Central Community Relations Unit provided funding totalling £5,586,200.09 in 1995–96, £5,531,857.76 in 1996–97 and £5,627,728.91 in 1997–98. Details of the organisations funded in those years, together with the amount of funding they received, have been placed in the Library of the House. These do not include payments from the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund in respect of European Union Measures administered by the Central Community Relations Unit.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women sentenced to imprisonment in England and Wales in each of the last three years had children under the age of five years at the time of their sentence. [49525]

This information is not collected centrally. However, a study of women in prison was carried out in November 1994 by the Office for National Statistics. It found that, of the 1,766 women interviewed, 265 (or 15 per cent.) had, at the time of imprisonment, at least one child under the age of five.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) which women's prison has the largest use per inmate of (a) chlorpromazine (Largactil), (b) Melleril and (c) other anti-psychotic drugs; how many were prescribed there; and what was the prison population there, in each of the last five years; [50178](2) how many prescriptions for

Details about prescriptions issued are not available in a form that could be used to provide the information sought and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.The Prison Service recognises that many women received into custody have complex medical histories and have very often already been prescribed the types of medications cited. A Prison Service health care standard on the use of medicines makes clear that medication will be prescribed only for clinical reasons and in line with the recommendation in the 1996 report from the Advisory Council on Drugs Misuse. Efforts are being made to reduce the prescribing of major and minor tranquillisers and neuroleptic drugs, except where their use is clinically essential. Increasing collaboration with NHS specialist psychiatric services is bringing prescribing in prisons under the influence of NHS consultant psychiatrists and concern about prescribing levels in prisons will continue to be addressed through improved monitoring of health care standards.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department has taken to encourage homosexual people to join police forces in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement. [49526]

The responsibility for making appointments to the police service in England and Wales lies with the chief constable of each police force. Chief constables, with the assistance of their police authorities, are also responsible for ensuring that their forces represent the community they serve. It is for individual chief constables to decide whether to target certain groups in any recruitment campaigns, and I am aware that a number of forces now place recruitment advertisements in gay newspapers and magazines.It is important for the police force in any area to reflect the composition of the wider community it serves. This issue was explored in a thematic inspection undertaken by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary last year. The report "Winning the Race. Policing Plural Communities" was published last year and copies are available in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give the total number and percentages of prison officers working with juveniles in young offender institutions and prisons by ethnic and religious background. [49872]

These figures are not collated centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 6 July 1998, Official Report, column 347, which of the initiatives listed were (a) initiated during the United Kingdom presidency and (b) in progress at the commencement of the United Kingdom presidency. [49993]

The new initiatives launched under the United Kingdom Presidency were:

• proposals and agreement on the key elements of a new European Union drugs strategy for 2000–04;
• the first two large-scale Customs joint surveillance exercises involving the 15 member states and the applicant countries of Central and Eastern Europe;
• introduction and completion of a joint action on good practice in mutual legal assistance;
• introduction of a joint action on the identification, tracing, freezing, seizing and confiscation of assets; and
• agreement to a common European Union standard for the exchange of fingerprint information.

The other activities listed in my earlier answer were taking forward important work, initiated by the United Kingdom and other member states, but not completed during previous Presidencies.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the total number of (a) police officers and (b) constables in each police force in England and Wales. [50865]

Provisional figures show that at 31 March 1998 there were 126,944 police officers (down 214 from March 1997) in England and Wales, including 98,387 constables (up 255 from March 1997).The number of constables and the number of officers in each force is shown in the tables. In addition, there are 2,058 officers on secondments to the National Crime Squad and Central Services.

Change in constable strength between March 1997 and March 1998
	March 1997	March 1998	Increase/decrease
England and Wales
Avon and Somerset	2,314.8	2,307.9	-6.9
Bedfordshire	846.1	842.5	-3.6
Cambridgeshire	1,001.0	1,006.2	5.2
Cheshire	1,589.5	1,594.9	5.4
City of London	655.9	634.1	-21.8
Cleveland	1,121.5	1,146.4	24.9
Cumbria	881.5	910.5	29.0
Derbyshire	1,376.0	1,363.2	-12.8
Devon and Cornwall	2,233.5	2,322.9	89.4
Dorset	969.0	1,003.0	34.0
Durham	1,130.0	1,184.2	54.2
Dyfed-Powys	755.5	749.3	-6.2
Essex	2,269.3	2,263.5	-5.8
Gloucestershire	872.0	861.3	-10.7
Greater Manchester	5,341.9	5,415.5	73.6
Gwent	964.0	950.8	-13.2
Hampshire	2,698.2	2,736.8	38.6
Hertfordshire	1,364.5	1,328.1	-36.4
Humberside	1,582.4	1,565.4	-17.0
Kent	2,554.1	2,548.2	-5.9
Lancashire	2,492.5	2,504.3	11.8

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list each (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful case brought by members of the public against the police for (i) malicious prosecution, (ii) false imprisonment and (iii) assault in the last five years, giving in each case the amount of compensation paid. [50202]

The available information is in terms of numbers of substantial and unsubstantiated complaints against the police, and is given in the table. Figures for the amount of compensation paid are not available.

Outcomes of investigated complaints for certain complaint types
	Reason for complaint
	Perjury/irregularity in evidence	Unlawful/unnecessary arrest/detention	Assault
1992
Unsubstantiated1	n/a	n/a	n/a
Substantiated	25	76	99
1993
Unsubstantiated	879	902	2,713
Substantiated	24	72	94
1994
Unsubstantiated	448	801	2,516
Substantiated	22	61	82
1995/96
Unsubstantiated	392	714	2,275
Substantiated	29	52	71
1996/97
Unsubstantiated	542	940	2,852
Substantiated	21	67	94
1Figures for unsubstantiated complaints were not collected in this directorate prior to 1993 and we are unable to provide figures for 1992

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the recorded incidents of (a) racial assault, (b) racist murder and (c) incitement to racial hatred in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [50201]

Information is not available in precisely the form requested. At present, individual forces submit their total racial incidents figures to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary at the end of each financial year, on the basis of the Association of Chief Police Officers' definition of a racial incident:

"any incident in which it appears to the reporting or investigating officer that the complaint involves an element of racial motivation, or any incident which includes an allegation of racial motivation made by any person".

These statistics are not broken down by the type of incident. In consultation with the police, the Home Office is currently exploring the possibility of police forces submitting a breakdown of the type of racial incidents recorded by the police in the future.The total number of racial incidents recorded by the police in England and Wales

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the clear-up rate for recorded offences in each police district in England and Wales in the last five years for which figures are available. [50199]

The available information relates to police force areas and is given in the table.

Notifiable offences recorded by the police: clear-up rate1 by police force area England and Wales 1993–97
Percentage
Police force area	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997
Avon and Somerset	17	21	23	24	26
Bedfordshire	21	22	22	33	35
Cambridgeshire	25	25	19	24	27
Cheshire	26	30	31	34	36
Cleveland	27	19	25	24	25
Cumbria	38	37	40	36	40
Derbyshire	21	21	20	21	25
Devon and Cornwall	25	27	27	30	32
Dorset	33	30	28	27	29
Durham	30	32	30	30	31
Essex	32	36	33	29	27
Gloucestershire	20	24	27	23	24
Greater Manchester	34	34	24	17	20
Hampshire	26	27	28	28	30
Hertfordshire	21	24	28	30	32
Humberside	16	17	19	20	20
Kent	25	29	26	32	31
Lancashire	35	33	34	33	30
Leicestershire	28	30	29	31	34
Lincolnshire	37	32	39	42	48
London, City of	22	27	23	27	24
Merseyside	39	33	27	29	31
Metropolitan Police	17	22	25	23	25
Norfolk	28	34	31	32	37
Northamptonshire	27	31	28	34	35
Northumbria	20	22	23	24	26
North Yorkshire	30	25	23	25	26
Nottinghamshire	29	28	23	28	28
South Yorkshire	20	24	24	23	29
Staffordshire	29	31	32	34	35

Number of proceedings and findings of guilt for certain motoring offences in England and Wales and the Metropolitan Police district 1994–96
	Metropolitan Police		England and Wales
	Proceedings	Findings of guilt	Proceedings	Findings of guilt
1994
Dangerous driving	1,310	529	11,097	6,194
Driving etc., after consuming alcohol or taking drugs	18,800	15,259	104,690	89,700
Speed limit offences	12,629	11,159	114,338	105,063
Failing to comply with traffic signals	6,770	5,080	29,152	24,266
Other offences of neglect of traffic directions1	2,214	1,455	12,306	8,770
Neglect of pedestrian rights2	3,593	2,770	9,209	7,439
1995
Dangerous driving	1,254	569	10,906	6,408
Driving etc., after consuming alcohol or taking drugs	18,699	15,445	105,407	92,505
Speed limit offences	12,998	11,519	128,409	118,974
Failing to comply with traffic signals	7,121	5,471	29,695	24,480
Other offences of neglect of traffic directions1	2,594	1,795	10,706	7,596
Neglect of pedestrian rights2	3,174	2,385	8,643	6,898
1996
Dangerous driving	987	457	10,017	5,750
Driving etc., after consuming alcohol or taking drugs	18,043	15,012	107,931	95,705
Speed limit offences	14,348	12,841	139,565	130,039
Failing to comply with traffic signals	6,874	5,446	30,220	25,307
Other offences of neglect of traffic directions1	2,553	1,823	9,320	6,672
Neglect of pedestrian rights2	2,714	2,008	8,132	6,487
1Includes failure to comply with the directions of a police constable as well as failure to comply with traffic signs
2Includes driving in a playstreet and other contraventions of street playground orders as well as offences connected with 'Zebra' crossings, 'Pelican' crossings and traffic lights at pedestrian crossings

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many motorists were (a) charged with and (b) convicted of (i) failure to accord precedence at pedestrian crossings, (ii) failure to comply with traffic signs, (iii) speeding offences, (iv) driving after consuming alcohol or taking drugs and (v) reckless driving in (1) the Metropolitan Police area of London and (2) England and Wales in (A) 1994, (B) 1995, (C) 1996 and (D) 1997. [50198]

Figures for the years 1994–96 are given in the table. Figures for 1997 are not yet available.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list by police authority area the number of illegal guns that have been received over each of the last three years. [49897]

Information about illegal firearms received by individual forces is not normally collected centrally. During the national firearms amnesty in 1996, a total of 22,942 firearms were surrendered to forces as follows:

Police force	Total number of firearms
Avon and Somerset	878
Bedfordshire	173
Cambridgeshire	308
Cheshire	376
Cleveland	198
Cumbria	365
Derbyshire	337
Devon and Cornwall	1,110
Dorset	521
Durham	305
Essex	793
Gloucestershire	310
Greater Manchester	420
Hampshire	716
Hertfordshire	161
Humberside	259
Kent	588
Lancashire	504
Leicestershire	404
Lincolnshire	466
London, City of Merseyside	245
Metropolitan Police	1,056
Norfolk	605
Northampton	222
Northumbria	428
North Yorkshire	311
Nottinghamshire	512
South Yorkshire	352
Staffordshire	423
Suffolk	650
Surrey	368
Sussex	873
Thames Valley	864
Warwickshire	212
West Mercia	526
West Midlands	597
West Yorkshire	352
Wiltshire	445
Total England	18,239
Dyfed Powys	493
Gwent	110
North Wales	332
South Wales	340
Total Wales	1,275
Total England and Wales	19,514
Central Scotland	215
Dumfries and Galloway	285
Fife	307
Grampian	547
Lothian and Borders	497

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his policy in respect of appearing on television programmes to discuss drugs matters. [50181]

Every request for interview is treated individually and on its merits.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what (a) resources and (b) programme money was provided to the Women's Unit for (i) 1997–98 and (ii) 1998–99. [45796]

A new Women's Unit was established in this Department with effect from 6 May 1997. Five civil servants from the Sex and Race Equality Division of the Department for Education and Employment were transferred to this Department to establish the Unit together with an annual budget of £165,000. The actual expenditure for the Women's Unit for 1997–98 was £565,202.The allocation made for the Women's Unit for the period 1998/99 is £1,130,004.These higher figures demonstrate this Government's commitment to ensuring that there is an effective and adequately resourced Women's Unit to prioritise women's interests at the heart of Government.The Women's Unit does not have a programme budget of its own, although its work does, of course, influence the programmes of Government Departments.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many lone parents are claiming income support in each local authority area in London; and in each area, how many lone parents had one or more children aged (a) 0 to four and (b) five to 11 years; and how many children of lone parents fall into each age group. [48979]

The latest information available is set out in the table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many women did not claim their state pension on reaching the age of 60 in the year 1997–98; [49079](2) how many men did not claim the state pension on reaching the age of 65 years in 1997–98. [49100]

The information requested is not available. Information for 1995–96 on the number of men and women who have entitlement to Retirement Pension (RP) and have contacted the Department to say that they wish to defer claiming their pension is set out in the table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will provide a breakdown of the sums available to pensioners who have not claimed their income support, indicating the number within the ranges (a) 0 to 50 pence, (b) 50 pence to £1, (c) £1 to £2 and (d) measured in £1 steps, up to £55 per week. [49650]

The information is not available in the form requested. Such information as is available is set out in the table.

Number of pensioner benefit units not claiming entitlement to income support by amount unclaimed in 1995–96
000s
Band	Number of pensioners
£0–£1	60
£1.01–£2	60
£2.01–£3	50
£3.01–£4	401
£4.01–£5	60
£5.01–£6	50
£6.01–£7	80
£7.01–£8	50
£8.01–£9	50
£9.01–£10	130
£10.01–£11	130
£11.01–£12	50
£12.01–£13	120
£13.01–£23	70
£23.01–£33	140
£33.01–£43	70
£43.01–£53	50
£53.01–High	60
Total	1,010
1The estimates are based on particularly small sample sizes and should be treated with caution

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will make it her policy that the contract to operate the Benefits Agency Medical Service will not be transferred to a private company until that company can demonstrate that it has a sufficient medical workforce to execute the contract as demonstrated by signed and returned contracts between the accredited medical workforce and the company. [49695]

It was announced on 19 February 1998, Official Report, columns 861–62, that the contracts for Benefits Agency Medical Service would be awarded to the SEMA Group for five years with an option to extend the contracts for two years.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether the preserved right benefits of persons living in independent sector residential homes can be reduced as a result of topping up payments from a local authority; and what plans she has to change the current rules. [49996]

Local authorities are permitted to top up Income Support paid to people with preserved rights only in cases where a person was receiving local authority topping up payments on 31 March 1993, is under pension age, or is in residential care and either facing eviction from the home or is resident of a home which is about to close. Such top-up payments have no effect on the amount of Income Support paid. We have no plans to change the rules on the treatment of such payments.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will introduce measures to allow women to qualify for widows benefit when they have not been married to their late partners but could qualify as having been married by cohabitation. [50210]

Modernising the Social Security system is a key priority of the Government. In our examination of the current Social Security structure we will take account of the needs of the bereaved in pursuit of our aim of reducing poverty and welfare dependency, promoting work incentives and providing better, simpler more efficient services to clients.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many cold weather payments were made; and how much was spent on cold weather payments in the winter of 1997–98. [50211]

Last winter, 55,381 Cold Weather Payments were made, totalling £470,739.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when she intends to reply to the letters to her dated 7 April, 27 April and 4 June from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. P. Hampson of 2 Hopterstall Walk. [50559]

A reply was sent to my right hon. Friend on 13 July 1998.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is her estimate of (i) the number of LETS schemes and (ii) the number of people trading in LETS in (a) England and Wales and (b) Derbyshire; and if she will make a statement. [50203]

The information requested is not collected by this Department.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many appeals, in respect of each benefit, were successful during the last 12 months where the claimant (a) had an oral hearing and was represented, (b) had an oral hearing and was not represented and (c) did not attend the hearing. [50182]

The information is set out in the table.

Number of oral tribunal hearings where the appellant was successful and was represented, was not represented and did not attend
Type of benefit	Was represented1	Was not represented and attended alone	Did not attend hearing2
All	21,132	15,543	6,784
Attendance Allowance	23	11	5
Child Benefit	53	63	66
Compensation Recovery Unit	3	2	0
Disablement Benefit	783	219	48
Disability Living Allowance	57	12	11
Disability Working Allowance	12	7	3
Family Credit	108	120	158
Guardians Allowance	0	1	0
Incapacity Benefit (IB):
Not all work test	486	499	266
All work test	12,288	8,008	1,476
All work test (excl. IB)	2,243	2,051	580
Income Support	3,176	2,683	1,923
Industrial Death Benefit	0	0	0
Invalid Care Allowance	77	46	45
Invalidity Benefit (IVB)	151	51	16
IVB (Graham)1	1	0	0
Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA):
JSA (hardship)	4	8	8
JSA (labour market)	129	379	798
JSA (payment)	226	365	479
Maternity Allowance	1	0	0
Maternity Benefit	1	4	3
One Parent Benefit	3	7	5
Chronic Bronchitis and Emphysema	0	0	0
Reduced Earnings Allowance	16	5	0
Retirement Pension	29	20	20
Severe Disablement Allowance	62	38	18
SDA (foster)1	582	9	79
Sickness Benefit	25	12	5
Social Fund:
Funeral payment	189	201	182
Maternity payment	6	13	15
Statutory Maternity Pay	2	1	0
Statutory Sick Pay	1	2	1
Supplementary Benefit:
Single payment	9	5	4
Other payments1	35	2	6

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will make a statement about the future of the interim funding arrangements for supported accommodation from the end of October. [50751]

I am pleased to announce that the Government will be extending for a further twelve months our interim funding arrangements for supported accommodation.The Government fully appreciate the importance of supported housing for vulnerable people. Extending the interim scheme will ensure financial security for many thousands of tenants who rely on Housing Benefit to meet the cost of the support services they need and which allow them to live with some measure of independence in the community.We hope to conclude the inter-Departmental Review of funding for supported accommodation in the near future. However, the supported housing sector is a complex area and the problems identified by the Review have proved to be particularly difficult to resolve. The Government remain committed to identifying and introducing appropriate long-term funding arrangements as soon as possible.The Government believe that it is important to ensure that whatever arrangements are implemented for the long-term, they are sustainable and achieve a fair balance between the demands on Housing Benefit and other sources of funding. We will give supported housing providers and other stakeholders an opportunity to comment before new arrangements are implemented.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when she will publish the 1997–98 annual reports and accounts for each of her Next Steps agencies. [50750]

The 1997/98 annual reports and accounts have been laid before Parliament today for the Benefits, Child Support, Contributions, Information Technology Services and War Pensions Agencies.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what are the annual revenue account costs of the British Library's new public affairs directorate. [40132]

The Public Affairs Directorate was established in 1996 with staff from existing resources. Annual revenue costs of the Directorate in 1997–98 were:

	£
Income from sales and donations	2,158,972
Expenditure	3,510,157
Net Expenditure	1,351,185

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff are employed in Scotland by his Department, or executive agencies responsible to his Department; and where those staff are located. [48359]

[holding answer 6 July 1998]: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Royal Parks Agency do not employ any staff in Scotland.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when he expects to publish the new list of buildings of historic or architectural interest for the Borough of Cheltenham. [49245]

The Cheltenham list is one of 140 which have been reviewed by English Heritage. The responsibility for checking, processing and agreeing these revised lists lies within the Department. This, together with the resolution of queries with English Heritage, is a time consuming task. We are about to start work on the Cheltenham list which includes over 1,000 buildings and expect to publish it before the end of November.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what action he is taking to encourage local authorities to develop sports strategies. [50232]

The Department is working with local government to develop guidance on cultural strategies embracing all areas of its responsibility, including sport. The English Sports Council has also produced a wide range of strategic guidance intended to assist local authorities and other bodies involved in planning for sport, both in terms of building facilities and sports development programmes.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what action he is taking to encourage participation in outdoor sports. [50235]

Through our policy of 'Sport For All', we are determined to encourage and improve participation in all sports.Government support for sport is channelled through the Sports Councils. In 1998–99 almost £45 million of exchequer funding will be made available to the United Kingdom Sports Council and the English Sports Council. In addition, around £250 million will be awarded to sport through the Lottery Sports Fund.With this funding, the Sports Councils undertake a range of activities to promote and develop a number of sports at all levels. The Sports Councils aim to support both indoor and outdoor sports when giving grants to sports governing bodies or making awards from the Lottery Sports Fund.