To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment has been made of the suitability of the proposed ramped area for the use of athletes coming from the external road to the Olympic Track of the English National Stadium Project; and if he will make a statement. [104311]

Following his statement to the House on 1 December 1999, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made a further announcement about the future of Wembley on 22 December 1999 which confirmed that, subject to further discussions between Wembley National Stadium Ltd., the Football Association and Sport England, athletics will be removed from the new national stadium at Wembley and an alternative venue sought elsewhere in London. Copies of that announcement have been placed in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what has been the amount of capital expenditure by the water industry for improving the environment over the past five years; and what his estimate is of the anticipated expenditure on such schemes, by the industry, over the next five years. [103101]

[holding answer 20 December 1999]: The Director General of Water Services has published the capital expenditure of the water industry on quality enhancement for the five years from 1 April 1994 to 31 March 1999 in "1998–1999 Report on financial performance and expenditure of the water companies in England and Wales". Gross capital investment by the water industry on quality enhancement in this period was £6,691 million (in May 1999 prices).On 25 November 1999 the Director published "Final determinations: Future water and sewerage charges 2000–2005". This document sets out the provisions within price limits for expenditure to improve the environment in the five years beginning 1 April 2000. This includes provision for capital enhancement expenditure and capital maintenance expenditure of £8.5 billion to improve drinking water quality and reach higher environmental standards. £7.45 billion of this is capital enhancement expenditure. £1.03 billion is capital maintenance expenditure which will allow the companies to meet water quality and environmental obligations. The Director is writing to the hon. Member with fuller information on the figures he requests.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the leakage rates for each water company in England; and what steps are being taken to reduce these levels. [104291]

The Director General of Water Services published the leakage rates for the water undertakers in England in 1998–99 in the "1998–99 Report on leakage and water efficiency" in December. These rates, in megalitres per day and as a percentage of distribution input, were as follows:

	Megalitres per day	Percentage
Anglian	201	18.1
Bournemouth and West Hampshire	25.7	16.7
Bristol	56.4	18.7
Cambridge	13.1	18.5
Essex and Suffolk	76.4	15.9
Folkestone and Dover	8.7	17.8
Hartlepool	4.7	13.9
Mid Kent	30.1	19.0
North Surrey	22.3	17.3
North West	510	25.8
Northumbrian	171	22.0
Portsmouth	30.5	17.6
Severn Trent	344	18.4
South East	198.9	123.7
South Staffordshire	77.1	22.3
South West	92	21.1
Southern	95	16.1
Sutton and East Surrey	24.9	16.4
Tendring Hundred	5.5	18.5
Thames	770	31.1
Three Valleys	135.0	19.8
Wessex	100	25.9
York	9.0	19.5
Yorkshire	333	26.9
1Following inquiries by Ofwat, South East Water was asked to resubmit its water balance for 1997–98 and 1998–99. However, the company failed to supply a robust data set in time for inclusion in the report. The figure given here is for 1996–97 and is taken from the 1996–97 report on leakage and water efficiency.

The Director General of Water Services sets annual mandatory leakage targets for each water undertaker. The latest targets for 2000–01 were also published in the report. These targets represent a 31 per cent. reduction in leakage in England since April 1997. Over the next year, my Department, Ofwat and the Environment Agency will conduct a joint study into the scope for future leakage reduction.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how much contaminated land has been reclaimed in each of the last five years in each local authority area in the north-west of England. [104289]

Information on the amount of contaminated land reclaimed is not held centrally However, figures are available for the reclamation of

DLG/LRP spend
£ million
	1994–95	1995–96	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99	Total
Cumbria CC	3.19	1.49	2.60	2.17	1.34	—
Allerdale	0.79	0.00	0.11	0.18	0.00	—
Barrow	1.18	0.04	0.00	0.06	0.15	—
Carlisle	0.07	0.06	0.15	0.00	0.01	—
Copeland	0.19	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	—
Eden	0.06	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	—
South Lakeland	0.00	0.05	0.29	0.06	0.01	—
Cumbria Total	5.48	1.64	3.15	2.47	1.51	14.25
Lancashire CC	0.09	0.05	0.13	0.21	0.24	—
Blackburn	0.07	1.51	0.17	0.03	0.13	—
Blackpool	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.01	0.02	—
Burnley	0.01	0.05	0.07	0.02	0.11	—
Chorley	1.03	0.11	0.02	0.08	0.01	—
Fylde	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	—
Hyndburn	0.93	0.05	0.00	0.27	0.20	—
Lancaster	0.33	0.00	0.10	0.02	0.11	—
Pendle	0.12	0.00	0.00	0.25	0.03	—
Preston	0.23	0.05	1.04	0.28	0.00	—
Ribble V	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.04	—
Rossendale	0.03	0.02	0.22	0.19	0.71	—
South Ribble	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	—
West Lancashire	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	—
Wyre	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	—
Lancashire Total	2.84	1.86	1.75	1.36	1.60	9.41
Knowsley	0.56	0.40	0.02	0.10	0.83	—
Liverpool	0.00	0.35	0.24	0.35	0.18	—
Sefton	0.63	1.06	0.77	0.20	1.33	—
St. Helens	1.62	0.45	0.31	0.56	1.02	—
Wirral	0.43	0.33	0.14	0.37	1.53	—
Merseyside Total	3.24	2.59	1.48	1.58	4.89	13.78
Bolton	0.14	0.04	0.05	0.07	0.02	—
Bury	1.75	0.12	0.48	0.80	1.07	—
Manchester	0.97	0.91	1.12	0.78	0.70	—
Oldham	1.30	0.37	0.21	1.80	0.22	—
Rochdale	0.45	0.26	0.05	0.06	0.10	—
Salford	0.40	0.83	0.39	0.66	0.81	—
Stockport	3.17	0.00	0.00	0.20	0.47	—
Tameside	2.99	0.83	0.18	0.28	0.97	—
Trafford	0.00	0.00	0.13	0.53	0.01	—
Wigan	1.20	0.85	0.87	1.12	0.47	—
Greater Manchester Total	12.37	4.21	3.48	6.30	4.84	31.20
Cheshire CC	1.68	0.09	0.86	-0.19	0.69	—
Chester	0.00	0.00	0.06	0.00	0.01	—
Congleton	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	—
Crewe and N	0.08	0.00	0.00	0.01	0.00	—
E Port and N	1.78	0.18	0.02	0.08	-0.06	—
Halton	0.90	0.29	0.21	0.05	0.11	—
Macclesfield	0.09	0.18	0.01	0.01	0.00	—
Vale Royal	0.30	0.08	0.15	0.12	0.01	—
Warrington	0.31	0.03	0.02	0.00	0.02	—
Cheshire Total	5.14	0.85	1.33	0.08	0.78	8.18
Region Total	29.07	11.15	11.19	11.79	13.62	76.82

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many people have been put on local authority housing waiting lists in London boroughs in each of the last six months. [104363]

Information is not held centrally on the numbers of people joining and leaving local authorities' housing registers/waiting lists.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many beacon councils have reached the Government's target of 25 per cent. recycling; and if he will list (a) the level achieved by each Beacon Council for waste management and (b) the councils not awarded beacon status which have achieved a higher level. [104290]

There is no recycling target which each individual local authority is expected to meet. There is a national goal to recycle or compost 25 per cent. of household waste by 2005 or earlier.From the data supplied for the 1997–98 Municipal Waste Survey, three authorities chosen as Beacon Councils in the "Sustainable Development: Dealing with Waste" category have recycling rates of 25 per cent. or over:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many (a) men and (b) women in each of the standard age groups were employed in (i) his predecessor departments and English local authorities in 1979 and (ii) his Department and English local authorities in 1999. [104026]

(i) Available records indicate that on 1 January 1979, 26,438 staff were employed in the Department of the Environment and the Department of Transport. Age and gender analysis is not available for that time.In June 1979, the English Local Authorities employed some 1,813,000 staff. Again, analysis by age and gender is not available.(ii) On 1 April 1999, 15,520 staff were employed in the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, of which 7,794 were men and 7,726 were women. The following is a breakdown into standard age groups for each gender:

Age	Men	Women
16–17	1	7
18–19	67	101
20–24	366	474
25–29	609	693
30–34	793	1,047
35–39	935	1,332
40–44	1,091	1,240
45–49	1,187	1,064
50 and over	2,745	1,768
Totals	7,794	7,726

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many people were registered homeless in London boroughs in each of the last six months. [104362]

Information is published on households accommodated under statutory homelessness provisions in a quarterly Information Bulletin, "Statistics of local authority activities under the homelessness legislation: England". Information on a monthly basis is not collected centrally. Table 2 of the Bulletin presents a quarterly summary by region, including Greater London, of those households accepted as homeless and in priority need under the homelessness provisions of the 1985 and 1996 Housing Acts.Copies of the Bulletin are in the Library, and the latest edition, published on 10 December 1999, presents statistics up to the third quarter of 1999.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many flights by United Kingdom and allied aircraft have taken place over Iraq during the last month; and what quantities of missiles were discharged into Iraq during that period. [103640]

RAF aircraft undertook some 200 operational sorties during the period 18 November to 15 December in pursuit of their mission to prevent Saddam's air forces from persecuting the Kurds and Shia Muslims of northern and southern Iraq. Over this period, the RAF dropped six laser-guided bombs over Iraq in response to Iraqi threats.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received on the exploratory talks on insensitive munitions. [104108]

This is a matter for the Chief executive of the Defence Procurement Agency. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list (a) the British members of the High Level Steering Group of the NATO Defence Capability Initiative and (b) the number of meetings so far which they have attended; and when the Defence Capability Initiative is expected to produce conclusions. [104270]

The UK's representative at the High Level Steering Group is the Director General for International Security Policy (DGISP), who is supported by the Defence Counsellor at the UK Delegation to NATO. DGISP has attended, or been represented at, all four of the Group's meetings to date. It will be some years before the DCI is complete but work is well under way.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 16 December 1999, Official Report, column 260W, if he will list the types of vessels which have undergone the programme to eliminate asbestos from on board; when he expects the programme to be completed; what is the estimated cost; and if he will make a statement. [104349]

The comprehensive programme to eliminate asbestos is in its early stages and is expected to continue over the next 10 years, being undertaken during planned maintenance periods and refits. There are likely to be cases where it may be safer to leave the asbestos in place, undisturbed and sealed for the service life of the vessel. The use of asbestos in Royal Naval vessels is governed by the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 1987, as amended. Safe alternatives have been fitted wherever practicable since the inception of the Regulations.It is estimated that the total cost of the programme to eliminate asbestos, wherever practicable, will be about £7.5 million. This includes the cost of replacement stocks.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he plans to answer the question tabled on 19 November for answer on 23 November by the hon. Member of Vale for York concerning the number of civilian staff employed at Imphal Barracks. [103760]

I replied to the hon. Member on 21 December 1999.

To ask the Prime Minister when he next expects to visit Barnsley. [103458]

I have no immediate plans to do so.

To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer of 20 December 1999, Official Report, column 353W, concerning the public disclosure of discussions at the JCCC, if he will investigate the source of the press reports of the JCCC meeting on 13 December. [104138]

No.

To ask the Prime Minister when he expects to receive the Sixth report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. [104643]

I am pleased to announce that Lord Neill has today published the Committee's Sixth Report. The report reviews the implementation of the recommendations from its First Report.The Government welcome the report. We will need to consider carefully the recommendations and will give a detailed response to the report in due course.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the funding of researchers through MRC or ARC grants to travel abroad to conduct research on animals. [104282]

The MRC and BBSRC (formerly known as ARC) do not provide funds for any animal research unless the work proposed is of high quality, the need to use animals has been properly justified, and any suffering is minimised.Collaborations between UK scientists and their counterparts in the USA, Europe, or other countries play an important role in ensuring the quality and efficiency of UK scientific research, and avoiding duplication. Researchers supported through MRC and BBSRC grants will often pursue joint projects with researchers in other countries, and a small proportion of these may involve animals.

Unit of delivery	Starts to FTET option between January 1998 and July 1999	Of which, number who had left New Deal by the end of September 1999	Number recorded as completing FTET option before leaving New Deal	As a percentage of those for whom completed/left early is known	Number recorded as leaving FTET option early before leaving New Deal	As a percentage of those for whom completed/left early is known	Number who had left for an unknown destination by the end of September 1999	As a percentage of those who had left New Deal by the end of September 1999
Tayside	474	323	61	36	109	64	47	15
Ayrshire	371	242	37	25	113	75	29	12
Borders	64	34	1	7	14	93	8	24
Dumfries and Galloway	181	101	23	40	35	60	19	19
Dunbarton	211	103	15	28	38	72	21	20
Edinburgh, East and Mid Lothian	317	200	24	29	58	71	40	20
Fife	479	295	48	30	113	70	60	20
Forth Valley1	294	145	18	24	58	76	31	21
Glasgow	1,112	570	74	24	240	76	133	23
Grampian	134	80	11	28	29	73	15	19
Moray, Strathspay and Badenoch	35	23	7	70	3	30	7	30
Lanarkshire	651	348	23	12	176	88	65	19
Renfrewshire	272	153	22	23	73	77	36	24
West Lothian	98	60	7	21	26	79	12	20
Argyll and The Islands	20	9	0	0	3	100	1	11
Caithness and Sutherland	30	15	1	14	6	86	2	13
Inverness and Nairn	44	22	8	53	7	47	5	23
Lochaber	6	2	0	0	1	100	0	0
Western Isles	30	17	7	88	1	13	4	24
Orkney	6	2	1	100	0	0	0	0

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people joined the Full Time Education and Training Option of the New Deal for 18 to 24 year olds between January 1998 and the end of July 1999, by unit of delivery; how many and what percentage of these (a) completed their courses before leaving the New Deal, (b) left their courses before completing them and (c) left at any stage for unknown destinations. [100807]

[holding answer 2 December 1999]: The information available currently is shown in the following table. The Full-Time Education and Training (FTET) Option is designed to give people the skills that they need to get jobs; of the 7,891 young people shown as having left the Option early, 3,200 or 40 per cent. had found jobs. A recent survey has shown that 57 per cent. of young people leaving New Deal for unknown destinations had found a job.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people (a) have found sustained unsubsidised employment of 13 weeks or more, (b) are on follow-through and (c) have left for destinations other than sustained unsubsidised employment of 13 weeks or more from the New Deal scheme. [102108]

[holding answer 9 December 1999]: The New Deals have made an excellent start in helping unemployed people into work. Latest figures to the end of October 1999 show that, through the New Deal for Young People, 107,280 people have found sustained unsubsidised employment, 22,980 young people were on Follow-Through and 144,290 young people were recorded as having left New Deal for destinations other than sustained unsubsidised employment.Of the 144,290 recorded as destinations other than sustained employment, 30,060 transferred to another benefit, 44,750 went to another known destination and 69,480 went to an unknown destination. A recently published study reporting on clients who left the Gateway stage of New Deal for an unknown destination and whose JSA claim which qualified them for New Deal had been closed found that 57 per cent. of them left New Deal to go into paid employment. Over 100,000 young people have gained training and work experience in the non-employment options.Through the New Deal for long-term unemployed people aged 25 and over, equivalent figures were 19,730 into sustained unsubsidised employment, 990 older clients on the Follow-Through stage and 94,100 to destinations other than sustained unsubsidised employment.A further 24,430 unemployed people under these two New Deals have found sustained subsidised employment.A sustained job is one where the client does not return to JSA or New Deal within 13 weeks.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many young people in West Sussex have been through the New Deal scheme; and how many have subsequently found unsubsidised employment. [104273]

The latest statistics to the end of October 1999 show that of the 676 young people who started New Deal in the West Sussex Coastal Plain Unit of Delivery, 447 had left. It is encouraging that in West Sussex, 347 young people have found unsubsidised employment when they were benefiting from the New Deal. Others will have found work without informing the Employment Service.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of unemployment among members of ethnic minority groups; and if he will make a statement. [103248]

[holding answer 21 December 1999]: Figures from the Labour Force Survey are as follows:

Employment
	Level (thousand)	Rate (percentage)	Change in rate over last year percentage points
All	—	—	—
White	26,200	75.6	+0.8
All ethnic minority groups	1,350	58.3	+2.0
Black	400	62.8	+1.7
Indian	420	68.0	+2.9
Pakistani/Bangladeshi	220	40.8	+0.9
Chinese	60	55.6	+5.6
Other origins	255	60.2	+1.6

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he has received a copy of the Bourton report on Remploy; and what plans he has to make the Bourton report available to (a) hon. Members, (b) employee representatives and (c) the general public. [104095]

As the Minister responsible for Remploy, I can confirm that I have received a copy of the interim report from the Bourton Group on Remploy. This report is a commercially sensitive document about the strategic development and management of a competitive company. For that reason I do not intend to make copies of the report more widely available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on progress in the consultation exercise on the future of Remploy factories. [104096]

Consultation about the current Remploy Corporate Plan (1999–2002) has been extensive. Remploy employees, trade union officials, relevant Local Authorities and local MPs/Members of the Welsh Assembly have all been given full opportunity to give input and discuss the Plan with Directors of Remploy.In addition, since 15 September 1999 there have been five meetings between representatives of the Remploy Trades Union Consortium and the Board of Directors of Remploy to discuss the Corporate Plan for 2000–03. These meetings have been constructive. This consultation is due to finish later this month. No final decisions will be made on any modernisation proposals until this consultation is concluded.All those with an interest in Remploy are also being invited to contribute to the Quinquennial Review of Remploy. The prior option stage of the review, which was announced in the House on 18 November, is due to be completed by the end of March 2000.Finally, my officials have been undertaking a consultation exercise about how the Supported Employment Programme as a whole could be developed to open up more opportunities for disabled people to work and progress into open employment. A wide range of organisations and individuals have responded, including trade unions, voluntary and statutory organisations and any others with an interest in the employment of people with disabilities. The responses are currently being collated and analysed.

Age bands	16–19	20–24	25–29	30–34	35–39	40–44	45–49	50+	Total
Non Prison Service Home Office as at 1 April 1999
(a) Men1	9	159	541	810	748	665	760	1,471	5,163
(b) Women	32	286	882	1,145	920	629	643	1,028	5,565
Grand total	41	445	1,423	1,955	1,668	1,294	1,403	2,499	10,728
Prison Service as at 21 December 1999
(a) Men	39	515	1,886	4,692	5,552	4,770	4,396	10,128	31,978
(b) Women	69	822	1,615	2,057	2,054	1,599	1,323	2,010	11,549
Grand total	109	1,337	3,501	6,749	7,606	6,369	5,719	12,138	43,528
1 Figures are for permanent non-industrial staff

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what action he is taking to reduce the bureaucracy brought about by varied bidding criteria for the Standards Fund. [104395]

For the Standards Fund for 2000–01 we have reduced the number of grants allocated via competitive bidding. Seven of the 38 grants for 2000–01 required competitive bidding, compared to 10 in 1999–2000 and 14 in 1998–99.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will review the law in respect of (a) the provision of day and night shelter places to people who may be drug users and (b) the vulnerability of managers, staff and trustees of day and night shelters to charges of not preventing the use or the supply of banned drugs. [R] [103912]

No. Day and night shelters are subject to the provisions of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and must operate in accordance with the law. Decisions on whether to offer day and night shelter places to people who may be drug users are for the managers of individual establishments. Managers, staff and trustees of day and night shelters should ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to prevent the supply or use of controlled drugs on the premises in accordance with the law. However, we do recognise the concerns of some agencies following the recent conviction of Ruth Wyner and John Brock and we will therefore consider, with the relevant agencies, whether further guidance is needed in this area.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men and (b) women in each of the standard age groups were employed in his Department and in police forces and fire departments in (i) 1979 and (ii) 1999. [104027]

The numbers of men and women employed in the standard age groups for 1999 are set out in the tables. The available published staffing figures for 1979 may be found in Civil Service Statistics 1979, a copy of which is in the Library. Where possible, information has been given at or near the 1 April 1999. It has not, however, been possible to provide Prison Service figures on this basis: this information is as at 21 December 1999. Age breakdowns for the Fire and Police Services are not available in the form requested except at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many umbrellas his Department purchased for use by persons queuing outside passport offices during the summer of 1999; how much was spent on them; what plans he has to dispose of them; and what estimate he has made of their resale value. [103959]

The number of umbrellas purchased for each passport office during the summer was 200, totalling 1,200 in all. These cost £10.50 plus VAT for each item for supply and delivery, £14,805 in total. There are currently no plans to dispose of the umbrellas and, therefore, no estimate has been made of their resale value.