To ask the Solicitor-General when he expects the Law Officers' Department's departmental report to be published. [118810]

I can confirm that copies of the departmental report have been placed in the Libraries of the House today.

To ask the Solicitor-General for what reason Mr. John Howes of the Treasury Solicitor's staff visited the Law Society building on 2 December 1999; and with whom he had contact. [118288]

On 2 December 1999, Mr. John Howes, a member of the Treasury Solicitor's staff, visited the Law Society's headquarters in Chancery Lane for the purpose of having lunch with an administrator in a client department, the Office of Fair Trading, on whose behalf he had conduct of a case. He had attended the High Court for an interlocutory hearing in that case with the administrator in the morning. In the afternoon he was to attend a meeting in the offices of the Office of Fair Trading in Chancery House, Chancery Lane. Mr. Howes had no other purpose in visiting the Law Society on that date.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what annual contribution Britain has made to aid for Sri Lanka since 1964. [117674]

Bilateral expenditure from the UK is given in the table. The UK also assists Sri Lanka through its contributions to multilateral organisations such as the World bank and the EC.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been spent on (a) the upkeep and (b) the purchase of works of art in her Department for each financial year since 1992. [117468]

The Department for International Development (DFID) has not purchased any works of art. The 13 works of art on display in DFID are on loan from the Government Art Collection, who are responsible for the upkeep of the items.In 1993–94 the Overseas Development Administration purchased two Howard Hodgkin limited edition lithographs at a total cost of £22,938, including framing and dealer's commission. These prints were purchased with the intention of presenting them to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to mark the opening of the new bank building in London. It was, however, subsequently agreed that these lithographs should be loaned to the Government Art Collection and they are at present on display in the DFID London office.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions she has had with her international colleagues concerning humanitarian aid to Burma via non-governmental organisations. [117608]

My Department is working to promote a more coherent and consistent approach by the international community. This issue is a central element of this Government's discussions with their international partners about policy towards Burma.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations she has made concerning the transmission of hydroelectric power produced in Karenni state to Rangoon. [117290]

My Department has made no representations on the issue of transmission of hydroelectric power in Burma.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent negotiations her Department has had with the State Peace and Development Council in Burma concerning the operations of non-governmental organisations in (a) Karenni state and (b) Shan state. [117289]

My Department has no dealings with the State Peace and Development Council. But the Government have urged that non-governmental organisations should be allowed unrestricted access within Burma.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment her Department has made of the extent to which humanitarian aid has reached the minority tribes of Burma. [117287]

United Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations report regularly on their activities. Projects implemented at community or village level, avoiding Burmese official channels, generally benefit the poor and disadvantaged, as is intended.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent humanitarian assistance her Department has given via non-governmental bodies in Burma. [117286]

The challenge for the international development community is to help poor people in Burma without helping the government that is largely responsible for keeping them poor. We are attempting to work with others to improve the livelihoods of poor and socially excluded people inside, and who have fled from, Burma; provide support to and build the capacity of civil society; reduce human rights abuses; and contribute to tackling serious threats to public health to poor people inside and adjacent to Burma. We shall publish a Country Strategy Paper shortly.Four projects are currently being implemented by NGOs financed from the Civil Society Challenge Fund, or the Joint Funding Scheme which it replaced:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many lawyers are employed by her Department; and how many were employed in 1995. [117809]

My Department does not employ any lawyers to act on behalf of the Department. We buy in legal services from the Scottish Executive and Treasury Solicitors to meet our requirements.In the implementation of its overseas development assistance programme, DFID employs contract staff to provide legal advisory and executive functions to overseas governments. DFID currently employs eight lawyers on this basis as compared with 21 in 1995.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to his answer of 10 March 2000, Official Report, column 839W, on the Utilities Bill, if the officials of his Department who met the Other Licensed Operators group on 15 February to discuss the Utilities Bill included secondees to his Department from commercial companies. [115770]

[holding answer 22 March 2000]: A secondee from the law firm Simmons and Simmons was present at the OLO group meeting on 15 February. All secondees are covered by arrangements to avoid conflicts of interest.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the complete sites for car manufacturing at (a) Longbridge, (b) Dagenham and (c) Cowley are covered by the EU Objective 2 map. [118085]

[holding answer 7 April 2000]: Most of the Longbridge site and all of the Dagenham site are included in the new Objective 2 European Structural Fund map. The Cowley site is not included in the map.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for what reason Worcestershire has not been given Objective 2 status. [118699]

Worcestershire did not meet the criteria set out in "The UK Government's proposals for new Objective 2 funding" (URN99/1021). Consequently only a few wards in the county have been included in the Objective 2 map. Those wards were included to make up contiguous areas of sufficient size, as required by the European Commission.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had with Nissan Renault about the location of the production line of the new Micra; and when he expects a decision on its location to be made. [117876]

The Government are working closely with the company over their future investment plans for its Sunderland plant. We are committed to working with the company to build on its current position as the most productive plant in Europe and encourage its further development. Decisions on the timing and location of investment in new models are a commercial matter for the company.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list by parliamentary constituency (a) the primary schools and (b) the secondary schools in Shropshire which (i) closed and (ii) opened in the periods (A) 1979 to 1997 and (B) since May 1997. [118527]

Since 1983, the earliest year for which we have information available, the primary and secondary schools which have closed and opened in Shropshire (excluding special schools) are as listed. Some schools have closed to reopen as an amalgamated school; some have closed to facilitate a change in age range. It is not possible, from the data available, to provide this information by parliamentary constituencies.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the proportion of the Standards Fund available for the year ending 31 March that will be claimed; and what assessment he has made of the reasons for under-claiming. [118236]

[holding answer 7 April 2000]: The full Standards Fund claim by local education authorities for the year ending 31 March 2000 will not be known until later in the year. Authorities' final claims follow from audited, closed accounts for 1999–2000.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what his Department's policy is on concessionary pricing for access for older people to computer training and internet services. [118396]

The Department for Education and Employment is committed to learning later in life and to widening access to ICT skills and the internet. We have provided £252 million through the Capital Modernisation Fund (CMF) to set up Information, Communications Technologies (ICT) Learning Centres which will provide access to ICT including learning materials, the internet and e-mail. One of the key client groups for this initiative is older people and we currently have an early pilot project with Age Concern, Waltham Forest, London, which provides free ICT access and training to people over 50. The project also provides outreach for those who are housebound or in residential care homes.In addition, the Government are also about to launch the ICT for Employability Initiative which commits £25 million to providing 50,000 courses for people who are in receipt of benefits and have no recent ICT experience. We are also making £15 million available for a scheme—`Computers Within Reach'—to pilot arrangements for those who cannot afford new computers to acquire reconditioned computers. Older learners, including those on the recently launched New Deal 50-plus, who are eligible can receive support under these programmes.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proposals he has for the vetting of volunteer assistants helping in schools. [118737]

Existing arrangements provide for volunteers working in schools who have regular contact with pupils to be checked against my Department's list of people who are barred from such employment (List 99) and schools must not use the services of anyone who is barred. If a volunteer working in a school will have substantial unsupervised access to pupils on a regular basis the school should also arrange a criminal record check on the person.There are no new proposals aimed specifically at volunteer assistants working in schools. However, officials in my Department are working closely with their counterparts in other Departments on a number of measures aimed at improving protection for children from unsuitable people. In particular, the implementation of the new arrangements for criminal record checks set out in Part V of the Police Act 1997, the provisions of the Protection of Children Act 1999, and the proposals in Part II of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Bill. Those measures will apply to volunteers who work with children as well as paid staff.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the budget for 2000–01 for training teachers in special educational needs. [118556]

[holding answer 10 April 2000]: Under the Standards Fund for 2000–01, the Department is supporting expenditure to a total of £26 million to provide in-service training in special educational needs. The Teacher Training Agency is also providing £21 million per year in support of in-service courses, and SEN is a priority within this. In addition, the School Improvement Grant for 2000–01 of £290.5 million can be used to support training teachers in special educational needs.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many teachers are being trained to provide for teaching children with special educational needs, broken down by area of specialism. [118557]

[holding answer 10 April 2000]: All teachers, as part of their initial teacher training, are trained to deal with special educational needs and must meet the standards set in order to gain qualified teacher status. In addition, special educational needs feature in induction standards, which all teachers must meet at the end of their induction year in order to be able to teach.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the average time given to SEN training in (a) PGCE and (b) BEd courses. [118558]

[holding answer 10 April 2000]: This information is not collected centrally. In order to secure qualified teacher status (QTS), students must be able to demonstrate that they can identify pupils with special educational needs, know where to go to get help in order to give positive and targeted support and are familiar with the requirements of the Code of Practice on identification and assessment of SEN, including requirements with regard to the keeping of pupils' records.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps he is taking to ensure the viability of primary schools with small rolls. [118662]

The viability of a school may depend on a range of factors and differ according to the particular situation in the area. It is for the local education authority to plan the provision of places in order to maximise parental preference and ensure good-quality education cost-effectively. Local education authorities have freedom in the budgets they delegate to schools to recognise the additional unit costs of small schools. We are establishing a Small School Support Fund from September to enable small schools to pilot innovative approaches to joint working and other forms of collaboration, and funds are being made available over 1999–2001 to provide more administrative support staff in small schools. There is also a presumption against the closure of schools in rural areas, where access to alternative provision may be more difficult.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many times his Department's officials have met headteachers in Leeds (a) since the publication of the Ofsted Inspection report on the local education authority and (b) since the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as consultants on future structures. [118547]

As part of its policy outreach function, DfEE's Standards and Effectiveness Unit (SEU) has an adviser with responsibility for maintaining contact with Leeds LEA. The Education Adviser meets headteachers in a range of circumstances, from one-to-one discussions to larger group meetings. In the period between the publication of Ofsted's report and the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers four such meetings took place, involving 12 headteachers. To date, since the appointment of PwC, 13 such meetings have taken place, involving 53 headteachers. In addition, following the publication of Ofsted's report, Professor Michael Barber, Head of SEU, and I met a larger group of Leeds heads—approximately 200 in number—to explain DfEE's objectives for Leeds and to hear their views. Subsequently, following PwC's appointment I met five heads on a school visit and Professor Barber has met a group of 45 heads—following up discussion at our earlier meeting.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many times his Department's officials met PricewaterhouseCoopers staff since their appointment as consultants following the publication of the Ofsted report on Leeds LEA; and for what purpose. [118546]

DfEE officials meet on a regular basis with individuals and groups from PricewaterhouseCoopers—including those currently involved in various ways in the Leeds consultancy—and for a range of reasons. These include bidding for intervention consultancy; feedback on such bids; development of framework contracts for intervention work; the discussion of current consultancy loads; and availability for further work.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what monitoring procedures he will apply to ensure the objectivity of the work of the consultants appointed as a result of the Ofsted report on Leeds local education authority. [118545]

PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) are working to a brief agreed jointly by Leeds LEA and DfEE. PwC report progress against that brief fortnightly to a project steering group. The project steering group comprises DfEE officials and Leeds LEA officers and is chaired in rotation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proposals he has regarding (a) grant levels, (b) Government procurement policies and (c) employment service policies to support the new Remploy 21 proposals. [117604]

There are no plans to increase Remploy's grant at present. However, Remploy has received an additional £1.5 million, both this year and last, to modernise its factories and to improve progressions to mainstream employment, and a similar amount will be available in 2001–02.If Remploy wishes to ask for further money to support the implementation of Remploy 21 then I will consider its request.The Government cannot change their procurement policies, which comply with EC regulations. Remploy 21 is an internal plan for the strategic development of the Company. The Employment Service is working closely with Remploy to deliver the Remploy 21 strategy.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many temporary classrooms there are in schools in (a) Somerset and (b) the Yeovil constituency; and if he will make a statement. [118640]

The information requested is not held centrally.While temporary classrooms perform a useful function in many schools, we are concerned about the length of time some units have been in use. That is why a substantial element of the latest round of the New Deal for Schools programme, which is being announced today, is being targeted at replacing with permanent accommodation those temporary classrooms which are in the poorest condition. Around £150 million is being allocated to support the removal of some 1,500 temporary classrooms.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans the Government have to change legislation to enable local authorities to charge recipients of Working Families Tax Credit for the child care they provide. [118893]

Local authorities are currently unable to pass on any of the costs of the child care they provide to parents who receive Working Families Tax Credit or Disabled Person's Tax Credit. Some of these families have sufficient incomes but nevertheless have their child care provided free of charge. We will be introducing an amendment to the Local Government Bill which will allow local authorities to charge for the child care they provide, but will still require them to exempt parents of children in need.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made in re-roling an armoured regiment into a joint nuclear, biological and chemical weapons regiment; and if he will make a statement. [117490]

[holding answer 3 April 2000]: The Joint Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (JNBC) Regiment was established on 1 April 1999. It includes the majority of personnel from 1^st Royal Tank Regiment who re-roled on return from Germany in summer 1999. However, one squadron and the Reconnaissance Troop from l^st Royal Tank Regiment continue to provide the Armoured Demonstration Squadron element of the Combined Arms Training Centre at Warminster. The JNBC Regiment conducted a series of exercises towards the end of 1999 and declared that it had reached its Initial Operating Capability at the end of December.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made in restructuring the armoured regiments; and if he will make a statement. [117488]

[holding answer 3 April 2000]: The new establishments have been agreed and the additional fourth squadrons will be formed by 2002.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made in the creation of the sixth AS90 regiment; and if he will make a statement. [117497]

[holding answer 3 April 2000]: 19 Regiment Royal Artillery completed its conversion to AS90 by 19 November last year. It is currently in Colchester, with two batteries, and the current plan is that it will move to Larkhill in 2003–04 when two further batteries currently in Germany will bring the Regiment up to full strength.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Challenger II tanks are in Kosovo; and how many miles they have covered. [117485]

[holding answer 3 April 2000]: The UK has 16 Challenger II tanks deployed in Kosovo. Up to 26 March, they had covered some 3,631 kilometres since first deploying on 8 February this year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made on the reconfiguring of infantry battalions to form a third mechanised brigade; and if he will make a statement. [117496]

[holding answer 3 April 2000]: The two infantry battalions equipped with Saxon vehicles will become part of 12 Mechanised Brigade in April this year, with the armoured infantry battalion joining in August this year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress his Department has made in converting the 5 Airborne Brigade into a mechanised brigade; and if he will make a statement. [117493]

[holding answer 3 April 2000]: The headquarters of 12 Mechanised Brigade was operational by the end of December 1999 and it has already taken its armoured regiment under command. The two battalions equipped with Saxon vehicles are joining the Brigade in April this year and the armoured infantry battalion joins in August this year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the (a) establishment strength, (b) actual strength and (c) bases of all Scottish regiments. [117666]

[holding answer 5 April 2000]: The current UK trained strength, the establishment strength and location of each Scottish regiment, as at 1 March 2000, are shown in the table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many refits the three Invincible Class carriers will have before they leave service; and if he will estimate the cost of each refit. [118266]

HMS Ark Royal is currently undergoing refit at Rosyth. On current plans for the introduction of replacement carriers, there will be a further two refits of Invincible Class carriers.The cost of the refits will depend on the scope of work to be undertaken, for which planning work has only recently commenced. The refit of Ark Royal is due to complete in late 2001 at a planned cost of about £116 million, subject to any additional unforeseen work.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the operating cost of each of the Invincible Class carriers in each of the past three years. [118267]

The operating costs of Invincible Class carriers, over the last three financial years, were in the order of:

To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, how much was spent in the last year for which figures are available on (a) the Welsh Grand Committee and (b) the Welsh Affairs Committee. [117821]

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what date random drug tests were introduced for service personnel; if he will set for out each regiment the number of positive test results for each major category of illegal drugs; how many (a) soldiers and (b) officers have been subjected to disciplinary action; and how many have been discharged from the services as a result. [117254]

[holding answer 10 April 2000]: Random compulsory drug testing (CDT) was introduced fully in the Army on 2 May 1995, in the Naval Service on 1 April 1997 and in the RAF on 1 November 1998. The Services regard drug taking as a matter of the utmost seriousness and a positive test will, in most cases, lead to an administrative discharge from the Service. The table shows, by category of illegal drug, the number of positive drug test results, following a compulsory drug test, recorded by other ranks in each of the three Services. No officer has tested positive in any of the Services since CDT was introduced. The second table also records those who have been subsequently administratively discharged.

The costs of meetings of the Welsh Grand Committee at Westminster are not separately identified. In 1998–99 the Committee met once away from Westminster, at Aberaeron, in February 1999. Additional costs to the House of that meeting were £6,417.12.In respect of the Welsh Affairs Committee, the Committee incurred the following costs during the financial year 1998–99:

To ask the President of the Council how many times the House has sat after (a) 10.30 pm, (b) 11 pm and (c) midnight (i) in the current session and (ii) in each of the last two sessions. [118757]

The information requested is as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list for each constituency in Shropshire, the branch libraries which were (a) downgraded, (b) closed and (c) opened (i) between 1979 to 1997 and (ii) since May 1997. [118538]

Information about the annual number of libraries opened or closed is not collected centrally. However, data about the number of libraries operated by each library authority are set out in the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy's annual publication "Public Library Statistics", which can be consulted in the House Library, and from which year-to-year changes can be established.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the number of people who have moved from benefits into work in Wales since May 1997; and if he will make a statement. [116235]

In Wales, the number of claimants of Jobseeker' s Allowance leaving the claimant count and known to have found work as the reason for ceasing their claim was 281,940 between 8 May 1997 and 10 February 2000, the latest date for which figures are available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many lawyers are employed by his Department; and how many were employed in 1995. [117805]

Following devolution, the Wales Office was established on 1 July 1999, and employs one lawyer who works four days per week.In 1995 the former Welsh Office employed 23 lawyers in established posts, excluding trainees and probationers.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which Minister in his Department has responsibility for regulatory reform; and if he will make a statement. [117424]

[holding answer 4 April 2000]: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office to my hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Mr. Quinn) on 4 April 2000, Official Report, column 385W.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many searches were conducted of (a) white people and (b) ethnic minority persons per 1,000 population in each borough in the Metropolitan police area in (i) 1996, (ii) 1997 and (iii) 1998–99; and for each borough what was (A) the ratio of ethnic minority searches to white searches in (1) 1996, (2) 1997 and (3) 1998 and (B) the ratio of ethnic minority arrests to white arrests in (x) 1996, (y) 1997 and (z) 1998. [118275]

The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis has provided the information requested in the tables.The table showing population data based on the Metropolitan Police District 1998 mid-year estimate of the 1991 census for London boroughs provides information on population data used in the calculation for the other three tables.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) white persons and (b) ethnic ninority persons were stopped and searched in each jorough in the Metropolitan police area in (i) 1996, (ii) 1997 and (iii) 1998–99; and how many stops and searches resulted in arrest in each case. [118274]

The Commissioner of Police of he Metropolis has provided the information requested, which is set out in the tables.