To ask the Minister for Women what guidance she gives to departments regarding the setting of departmental targets for the appointment of women; and if she will make a statement. [99039]

This Government are committed to achieving an even balance of men and women on boards of public bodies. Responsibility for making these appointments lies with individual Ministers supported by their Departments. Each Department sets out its target for increasing diversity in public appointments in "Public Bodies: Opening up Public Appointments 2002–2005". The DTI is committed to between 45 and 55 per cent. of appointments made each year to be women.The Cabinet Office has lead responsibility for public appointments. It is committed to helping Departments achieve the targets they have set, while upholding the principles of selection on merit.

To ask the Minister for Women if she will make a statement regarding conclusions reached at the EU Equality Advisory Committee meeting on 9 October 2002. [99049]

The purpose of the meeting of the EU Advisory Committee on 9 October was to exchange information and experience. The minutes of the meeting are not yet available from the European Commission.

To ask the Minister for Women how many regional seminar series in each region were hosted by the Women and Equality Unit to attract women to public appointments in each of the last two years; and if she will make a statement. [99040]

During 2002 the Women and Equality Unit hosted eight regional seminars. The seminars were held in the following places:

• Abingdon
• Canterbury
• Norwich
• Nottingham
• Scunthorpe
• Leeds
• Greenwich
• North Tyneside

One national seminar was held in Leicester.

To ask the Minister for Women how much has been spent on regional seminars by the Women and Equality Unit on attracting women to public appointments; and if she will make a statement. [99041]

The National Outreach Campaign consisted of eight regional seminars and five national seminars; the total cost of holding these seminars was £57,551.21 (excluding VAT).

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many embryos the Medical Research Council envisages requiring per year for its embryo stem cell bank; and what their planned budget is for the bank. [97989]

The bank will store adult, foetal and embryonic stem cell lines derived by the research community in the UK and overseas. Such lines will be ethically sourced and quality controlled. Embryonic stem cells will be supplied to the bank from IVF embryos donated for research. The MRC does not know how many embryos will be so donated.However, it is a condition of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority licence that all embryonic stem cell lines derived in the UK must be deposited in the bank. It will be a condition of MRC funding for stem cell research that adult, foetal and embryonic stem cell lines generated with such funding must be deposited in the bank. Other UK funders are likely to adopt the same terms and conditions. Deposition in, and access of lines from the UK bank will be overseen by the Steering Committee chaired by Lord Patel. Since the UK bank will provide standardised stem cell lines for research purposes, the need for individual research groups to derive their own stem cell lines will be reduced, thereby minimising the overall number of embryos used.The UK stem cell bank is being funded at a level of £2.6 million over three years. MRC will contribute 75 per cent., and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council 25 per cent. of these costs.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much the MRC has spent on research using human embryos in each the past 20 years. [97990]

The majority of the research on embryos supported by the Medical Research Council involves material collected from animal models; only a small number of projects involve human embryos. Human embryonic tissue is currently used in the study of developmental biology and research on the treatment of disease. MRC does not keep historical figures for spend on such research, but estimates that in the last financial year (2001–02) it spent £0.6 million on research involving or related to human embryos.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry by what e-mail address members of the public may contact (a) her and (b) each of the Ministers in her Department; and for each e-mail address if she will state (i) the date it became active, and (ii) the number of e-mails received in each month since activation. [97458]

The e-mail addresses are as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which United Kingdom companies or organisations have benefited from the European Council Decision 668/2002/Euratom of 3 June 2002, which estimated a European funding area for the sixth framework programme for Euratom research and training activities. [98497]

The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority's Culham Science Centre is the only organisation in the UK to receive funding for nuclear fusion research. Some of this funding is used for research by UK universities and the Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory.UK research contractors, regulators and industry will benefit from the fission programme by participating in FP6 research projects supported by Euratom. The first call for proposals for these research projects is currently underway and two further calls will follow during the course of FP6.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her answer of 30 January 2003, Official Report, column 984W, on renewable energy exporters, if she will provide a breakdown of the renewable energy technologies represented by the three applications for support under the renewable energy initiative of the ECGD. [99333]

ECGD has received applications that could be considered under this initiative in respect of the following renewable energy technologies:Mini-hydrosOffshore wave energyWaste to energyThe initiative comes into effect in April 2003 making ECGD cover available for at least £50 million of projects that meet the minimum risk standards.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the ability of runway facilities at Belfast City airport to accommodate an increased use by large passenger planes. [99417]

In licensing civil aerodromes in the UK, the Civil Aviation Authority does not specify the type or number of aircraft that can operate from a particular aerodrome. Instead, it ensures that national and international operating and safety standards are complied with. Provided that these standards are met it is a matter for aircraft operators and the aerodrome licensee to be satisfied that the facilities and manning levels match their requirements.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the environmental impact, with particular reference to (a) emissions and (b) fuel consumption of (i) a stretch limousine and (ii) other types of road vehicle. [99249]

No specific assessment has been made of the environmental impact of stretched limousines. However, indices for regulated pollutants (CO, HC, NOx and PM) and for CO2 are given for various classes of road vehicles in Table 2.6. of the Departmental publication "Transport Statistics: Great Britain—2002 Edition".

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many stretch limousines have been registered for use on British roads in each year since 1992; and if he will estimate the average distance travelled by each of these vehicles in each of these years. [99224]

The information held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency on body types does not distinguish between different categories of limousine. No information is held on the distances travelled by these vehicles.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy to establish a national standard for local authority low emission zones restricting the entry of highly polluting vehicles into air quality management areas; and if he will make a statement. [98699]

The latest guidance issued by DEFRA to support local authorities with their air quality management duties under Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 includes recommendations made by the National Society for Clean Air's Cleaner Transport Forum on proposed standards in low emission zones.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what representations he has received concerning the European Commission's Air Transport Draft Regulation COM (2002) 521; and if he will make a statement; [100035](2) what assessment he has made of the impact of Draft Regulation COM (2002) 521; and what the Government's policy is on the draft regulation. [100036]

On 21 October 2002 the Minister for Transport submitted an Explanatory Memorandum on the draft Regulation to both Houses of Parliament. On 11 December 2002 the Minister submitted a Supplementary Explanatory Memorandum to Parliament including a partial regulatory impact assessment assessing the likely effect of the proposal as drafted. The assessment listed eight organisations that, in response to a request by officials, made representations to the Department. They are: the British Air Transport Association, the Board of Airline Representatives in the UK, the General Aviation Manufacturers and Traders Association, the British Helicopter Advisory Board, the Royal Aero Club of the UK, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the International Union of Aviation Insurers and the Civil Aviation Authority.Whilst the Government supports measures to harmonise insurance requirements across the European Community, it has expressed concern that the introduction of mandatory requirements for non-commercial aircraft operators would impose unwarranted costs on that sector of civil aviation. We have also questioned the legality and practicality of the provisions in proposal to overflying aircraft.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether it is his policy to allow anticipated increased demand for air travel to be met. [99201]

This is one of the central questions to which we are seeking responses in our current consultation on the future development of air transport in the United Kingdom. We will set out our policy conclusions in the air transport White Paper later this year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport in cases where regional strategic guidance includes congestion taxes for a particular town or city, what requirement will be placed on the Council in that place to introduce a congestion charge. [93604]

Decisions on whether to introduce such measures and the form they take, are a matter for individual local authorities.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures he is taking to raise awareness among drivers of the dangers of fatigue with (a) the general public, (b) operators of motor fleets and (c) companies using commercial vehicles and employing travelling salespersons. [99635]

The Department raises awareness of the dangers of falling asleep at the wheel among all drivers by means of national publicity campaigns and advertising. Local authority road safety officers support our campaigns and provide relevant publicity materials to employers within their areas.Full details of the Department's driver tiredness campaigns were given in answer to a question from the hon. Member for Bath (Don Foster) on 9 December 2002

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he will take to ensure that local authorities have up to date oil spill contingency plans in line with the National Contingency Plan following the second report of the Public Accounts Committee. [98698]

The responsibility for responding to pollution at sea lies with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and certain ports and harbours, as laid out in the Merchant Shipping Regulations 1998. However, local authorities will respond to shoreline pollution and have detailed contingency plans to address potential incidents.The MCA provides two accredited training courses for local authority emergency planners and operational staff. 'Oil pollution, Contingency Planning and Response' is a five-day course for local authority management staff, run four times a year across the UK. 'Oil Pollution Response', run eight times a year, is a two day hands-on training course in counter pollution for local authority staff, who would expect to be involved supervising beach clean-up operations and protective booming operations.The MCA actively encourages local authorities to maintain and update their oil spill contingency plans. The MCA maintains a database of all local authority oil spill plans, and monitors the updating procedures of individual authorities. In addition, local authorities are encouraged to submit their plans for formal review by the MCA's Counter Pollution and Response Branch.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the humanitarian consequences of war against Iraq, with special reference to medical aid. [98733]

The people of Iraq are already suffering a humanitarian catastrophe. 60 per cent. of the people in this naturally wealthy and highly educated country are dependent on handouts from the Oil for Food Programme and one-third of children in Baghdad-controlled Iraq are chronically malnourished.If the UN authorises military action to force Saddam Hussein to comply with his disarmament obligation, it is essential that great care is taken to minimise any harm to the people who are already very vulnerable. This means very careful targeting of military action, ensuring order is maintained, food distribution is quickly resumed and that health and water and sanitation infrastructure is rehabilitated as soon as possible.Planning is in hand for all of this. My greatest worry is that there is not yet agreement that the UN should have the lead role in a post conflict Iraq. Without this there would be significant legal and other difficulties for the international humanitarian system to work.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much producing her Department's latest Annual Report cost; how many copies were printed; how many copies of it were sold at its cover price; to whom copies of the report have been provided free of charge; and how many copies were provided free of charge. [90889]

The cost to the Scotland Office of producing the 2002 Departmental Report was £3,869. The number of copies printed for the department was 150. Copies of the report were Provided free of charge to the Scottish Affairs Committee, other Government Departments and for use within the Department.The Stationery Office determines the number of copies for retail sale and meets the costs of printing and publication. I understand that TSO has sold approximately 300 copies of the report.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if she will list consultations her Department has conducted since 1997; and when each consultation (a) opened and (b) closed. [97432]

The information requested is as follows:a consultation on the size of the Scottish Parliament was launched on 18 December 2001 with responses invited by 29 March 2002.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what (a) products, (b) goods and (c) services were (i) bought and (ii) sold online by her Department in each of the last five years. [97455]

The Scotland Office was established in its present form on 1 July 1999. Since that date, no products, goods or services have been bought or sold on-line by the department.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many days were lost due to sickness absence in the Department in 2002. [90545]

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many working days were lost due to illness in her Department in (a) 2002 and (b) each of the preceding five years. [90743]

The Scotland Office was established in its present form on 1 July 1999.Details of working days lost due to illness in my department are given in the table below.

Dates	Working days lost due to illness
1 January 2002–30 November 2002	651.0
1 January 2001–31 December 2001	746.5
1 January 2000–31 December 2000	442.5
1 July 1999–31 December 1999	299.0

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what events and programmes were arranged for previous anniversaries of the Coronation of Her Majesty the Queen in (a) 1978 and (b) other years. [98832]

Any events to mark the Anniversary of the Coronation in 1978 and other years were arranged as part of The Queen's normal programme of engagements. Similarly, any events to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Coronation this year will be part of The Queen's programme arranged by Buckingham Palace.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received regarding the decision by the British Horseracing Board to alter the charges levied on bookmakers relating to receiving pre-race data; and if she will make a statement. [99548]

We have so far received about a hundred letters on this matter. Decisions by the British Horseracing Board about charges to bookmakers for the use of its data are commercial matters as between the parties; and it would not be appropriate for me to comment on them.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what criteria Ministers in her Department use when determining whether to offer hospitality in restaurants to interest groups at public expense; and if she will make a statement; [99508](2) what hospitality has been offered at public expense in the last 12 months, by each Minister in her Department to outside interest groups, broken down by

All offers of hospitality are made in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on the principles set out in Government Accounting. The giving and receiving of hospitality is conducted fully in accordance with the guidance set out in the Ministerial Code, and Guidance on Contacts with Outside Interest Groups including Lobbyists. The detailed information requested is not held centrally, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her estimate is of the potential benefits to non-London tourist centres of holding the 2012 Olympics. [97930]

The additional tourism benefits of the Olympics and Paralympics outside London and the South East have been estimated at between £100 million and £190 million, reflecting the expected increase in expenditure by overseas and domestic visitors during the period of both the Olympics and Paralympics.The estimates do not include any wider or longer-term effects outside London that hosting an Olympics would have on inbound and domestic tourism. Nor have we sought to break down the estimate by individual region. However, as the BTA said in its recent submission to the CMS Select Committee, there can be little doubt that the staging of a successful Olympics would be beneficial in the longer-term for inbound tourism, providing an unparalleled opportunity to showcase the wider UK as well as London. This is a view that has been endorsed by a number of organisations, including Advantage West Midlands and the South West Regional Assembly.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people are employed (a) part-time and (b) full-time in the British tourism industry. [99680]

Since the tourism sector is formed of parts of a diverse set of industries whose businesses serve both tourists and non-tourists, the number of jobs supported by tourism can only be estimated. The latest estimate of total employment in tourism-related industries in Great Britain is 2.2 million in June 2002, of which 1.1 million jobs were part-time.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of expenditure on domestic tourism in 2002. [99681]

Domestic tourism expenditure on trips with an overnight stay is estimated to have been 22.6 billion for January to October 2002. Data to the end of 2002 will be published in April 2003.Data on domestic tourism day trips will be available in summer 2003.Both sources will be published on the website

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consultations there were between the MoD and the Home Office prior to the announcement by the latter of its interest in developing asylum facilities at Daedalus. [98626]

Since November 2002 there has been a variety of contact between the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence about the Daedalus property.The Home Office contacted Defence Estates in late November 2002 requesting details of sites that might be available for an inter-governmental transfer to the Home Office.In December 2002, the Home Office requested information, together with a site plan, in regard to an area of the Daedalus property, which MOD were considering for potential future disposal. Home Office representatives visited the site on 22 January 2003 and subsequently indicated that a portion of the site was could be of interest to them. My Home Office colleague, Beverly Hughes MP, wrote to me on 10 February 2003 to say that the Daedalus site was potentially suitable for an asylum accommodation centre for up to 400 single men and that the Home Office intended to make an announcement to this effect on February 11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to postpone the proposed decommissioning dates for (a) HMS Splendid and (b) HMS Sovereign pending the completion of the first Astute class submarines. [98249]

I refer the hon Member to the answers I gave on 3 February 2003, Official Report, columns 52W and 67W.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) appropriateness of disabling nerve agents in conflict situations. [98106]

The Ministry of Defence assesses the range of threats that the armed forces may face in conflict, including those from chemical weapons. The use of all chemical weapons is prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention, which entered into force in April 1997. The Convention also prohibits the use of riot control agents (i.e. temporarily disabling agents) as a method of warfare.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the locations of each paid-off SSN and former Polaris submarine. [95886]

[pursuant to his reply, 12 February 2003, Official Report, column 747 W]: I mistakenly referred to HMS Dreadnought as a Polaris submarine. She is, of course, a Dreadnought Class submarines and never carried Polaris missiles.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Army personnel indicated in the latest analysed Army continuous attitude survey that they were (a) very satisfied, (b) satisfied, (c) neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, (d) dissatisfied and (e) very dissatisfied when asked about (i) how much they felt valued by the army, (ii) general job satisfaction, (iii) how satisfied they were with management by superior NCOs/WOs, (iv) how satisfied they were with management by officers, (v) working conditions on operations, (vi) working conditions non-operations, (vii) confidence in abilities of immediate superiors, (viii) satisfaction with army life in general, (xi) satisfaction with quality of life, (x) satisfaction with workload, (xi) satisfaction with amount of leave entitlement, (xii) overall amount of training received, (xiii) overall pay, (xiv) army pension arrangements, (xv) welfare arrangements on operational tours and (xvi) welfare support for families; what percentage of those responding to each question each option represents; when the survey was completed; and if he will make a statement. [99185]

The questions raised were covered in two separate Continuous Attitude Surveys (CAS), SP2 distributed in August 2001 and SP3 distributed in May 2002 as indicated. Questions asked in SP 2 were not repeated in SP3. The details have been placed in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many RAF personnel in the latest analysed Royal Air Force continuous attitude survey indicated they (a) strongly agreed, (b) agreed, (c) neither agreed nor disagreed, (d) disagreed, (e) strongly disagreed and (f) didn't know to the statement 'Overstretch is causing serious problems in my working group'; what percentage of those responding to this question each option represents; when the survey was completed; and if he will make a statement. [99190]

The latest analysed survey was issued o 2000 RAF personnel on 1 February 2002, and completed by them during February to April 2002. It was published in September 2002.In this survey, the responses to the statement 'Overstretch is causing serious problems in my working' are set out in the table below. It is not possible to separate the 'Don't know' from the 'not applicable' responses.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many RAF personnel in the latest analysed Royal Air Force continuous attitude survey indicated they (a) strongly agreed, (b) agreed, (c) neither agreed nor disagreed, (d) disagreed, (e) strongly disagreed and (f) didn't know to the statement 'In the past 12 months I have had more than my fair share of separated service/detached duty'; what percentage of those responding to this question each option represents; when the survey was completed; and if he will make a statement. [99192]

The latest analysed survey was issued to 2,000 RAF personnel on 1 February 2002, and completed by them during February to April 2002. It was published in September 2002.In this survey, the responses to the statement 'In the last 12 months I have had more than my fair share of separated service/detached duty' are set out in the following table. It is not possible to separate the 'Don't know' from the 'not applicable' responses.

	Airmen	Officers	Total
Strongly agree
Number	76	14	90
Percentage	8.0	6.4	7.7
Agree
Number	163	30	193
Percentage	17.2	13.7	16.6

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many RAF personnel in the latest analysed Royal Air Force continuous attitude survey indicated they (a) strongly agreed, (b) agreed, (c) neither agreed nor disagreed, (d) disagreed, (e) strongly disagreed and (f) didn't know to the statement 'Overstretch is causing serious problems in the RAF as a whole'; what percentage of those responding to this question each option represents; when the survey was completed; and if he will make a statement. [99191]

The latest analysed survey was issued to 2,000 RAF personnel on 1 February 2002, and completed by them during February to April 2002. It was published in September 2002.In this survey, the responses to the statement 'Overstretch is causing serious problems in the RAF as a whole' are set out in the table. It is not possible to separate the 'Don't know' from the 'not applicable' responses.

	Airmen	Officers	Total
Neither agree nor disagree
Number	297	60	357
Percentage	31.4	27.4	30.6
Disagree
Number	206	61	267
Percentage	21.8	27.9	22.9
Strongly disagree
Number	63	28	91
Percentage	6.7	12.8	7.8
Don't know/not applicable
Number	141	26	167
Percentage	14.9	11.9	14.3
Total
Number	946	219	1,165
Percentage	100	100	100

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Naval personnel in the latest analysed Royal Navy continuous attitude survey indicated that they were (a) very satisfied, (b) satisfied, (c) neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, (d) dissatisfied, (e) very dissatisfied regarding (i) adequacy of training for service job, (ii) current minimum time ashore, (iii) effect of their career on the career of spouse/partner, (iv) level of job satisfaction, (v) pay in general (vi), total remuneration package, (vii), amount of annual leave allowance (viii) medical and dental facilities for themselves, (ix) enjoyment of service life,(x) amount of separation from family and friends and(xi) rates and terms of pensions; what percentage of those responding to each question each option

Royal Navy
	Very satisfied		Satisfied		Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied		Dissatisfied
Adequacy of training for your service job	97	11.2	502	58.2	148	17.1	95	11.0
Current Minimum Time Ashore (MTA)	87	10.1	279	32.3	236	27.3	152	17.6
Effect of your career on the career of your spouse/partner	9	10	132	153	346	40.1 211	24.4
Level of job satisfaction (you expect in the future)	32	37	332	38.5	26.3	30.5	180 20.9
Your pay in general	40	4.6	312	36.2	191	22.1	224	26.0
Your total remuneration package	20	2.3	293	34.0	288	33.4	206	23.9
Amount of annual leave allowance (30 working days)	51	5.9	491	56.9	208	24.1	92 10.7
Medical and Dental facilities for yourself	118	13.7	510	59.1	110	12.7	82	9.5
Your enjoyment of service life	91	10.5	372	43.1	214	24.8	142	16.5
Amount of separation from family and friends	3	0.3	124	14.4	292	33.8	267	30.9
The rates and terms of pensions	48	5.6	313	36.3	325	37.7	95	11.0

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Naval personnel in the latest analysed Royal Navy continuous attitude survey indicated that they (a) strongly agreed, (b) agreed, (c) neither agreed nor disagreed, (d) disagreed and (e) strongly disagreed with the statements (i) in your own opinion the service is more sexist than society as a whole, (ii) in your own

Royal Navy
	Strongly agreed		Agreed		Neither Agreed nor Disagreed		Disagreed		Strongly Disagreed		Nil Response
Question	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	NumberPercentage	NumberPercentage Number	Percentage
In your opinion the service is more sexist than society as a whole1	41	4.8	178	20.6	191	22.1	295	34.2	150	17.4 8	0.9
In your opinion the service is more racist than society as a whple1	11	1.3	72	8.3	157	18.2	369	42.8	245	28.4 9	1.0
I trust my senior officers to do the right thing2	20	2.3	305	35.3	205	23.7	248	28.7	65	7.5	21	2.4
Notes:
1 From the General Report of the RN's Continuous Attitude Survey completed in August 2002.
2 From the Collective Performance section of the RN's Continuous Attitude Survey completed in November 2002. (The General Report for this survey has yet to be analyzed).

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many RAF personnel in the latest analysed Royal Air Force continuous attitude survey said their work load was (a) too high, (b) about right and (c) too low; what percentage of those responding to this question each option represents, when the survey was completed; and if he will make a statement. [99186]

The information requested is provided in the table.opinion the service is more racist than society as a whole and (iii) I trust my senior officers to do the right thing; what percentage of those responding to each question each option represents; when the survey was completed; and if he will make a statement. [99197]

The information requested is provided in the table below:

The latest analysed survey was issued to 2,000 RAF personnel on 1 February 2002, and completed by them during February to April 2002. It was published in September 2002.The responses to the question in which individuals were requested to assess their current work load (excluding secondary duties) are set out in the following table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many RAF personnel in the latest analysed Royal Air Force continuous attitude survey said they worked each week on average (a) 30 hours or less, (b) 31–35 hours, (c) 36–40 hours, (d) 41–45 hours, (e) 46–50 hours, (f) 51–60 hours and (g) over 60 hours, what percentage of those responding to this question each option represents; when the survey was completed; and if he will make a statement. [99187]

The latest analysed survey was issued to 2,000 RAF personnel on 1 February 2002, and completed by them during February to April 2002. It was published in September 2002.In this survey, the responses to the question 'Over the last three months, approximately how many hours have you worked each week on average, including lunch breaks?', are set out in the following table:

Hours	Airmen	Officers	Total
30 or less
Number1	19	4	23
Percentage	2.0	1.8	2.0
31–35
Number1	36	4	40
Percentage	3.8	1.8	3.4
36–40
Number1	188	20	208
Percentage	19.9	9.2	17.9
41–45
Number1	342	71	413
Percentage	36.3	32.6	35.6
46–50
Number1	223	68	291
Percentage	23.6	31.2	25.1
51–60
Number1	87	40	127
Percentage	9.2	18.3	10.9
Over 60
Number1	48	11	59
Percentage	5.1	5.0	5.1
Total
Number	943	218	1,161
Percentage	100	100	100
1 Number of people who responded with this answer

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many RAF personnel in the latest analysed Royal Air Force continuous attitude survey indicated that they intended to opt for further service if they had the opportunity; what percentage of those responding to this question each reply option represents; when the survey was completed; and if he will make a statement. [99194]

The latest analysed survey was issued to 2,000 RAF personnel on 1 February 2002, and completed by them during February to April 2002. It was published in September 2002.In this survey, the responses to the question 'Do you intend to opt for further service if you have the opportunity?' are set out in the following table.

	Airmen	Officers	Total
Yes
Number1	347	35	382
Percentage	36.5	15.9	32.6
Perhaps
Number1	335	61	396
Percentage	35.3	27.7	33.8
No
Number1	210	41	251
Percentage	22.1	18.6	21.5
N/a—already committed to a full
career to age 55
Number1	58	83	141
Percentage	6.1	37.7	12.1
Total
Number1	950	220	1,170
Percentage	100	100	100
1 The number of people who responded with this answer.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many RAF personnel in the latest analysed Royal Air Force continuous attitude survey indicated that life in the RAF (a) was much better than expected, (b) was better than expected, (c) was as expected, (d) was worse than expected, (e) was much worse than expected and (f) has no expectations; what percentage of those responding to the question each option represents; when the survey was completed; and if he will make a statement. [99195]

The latest analysed survey was issued to 2,000 RAF personnel on 1 February 2002, and completed by them during February to April 2002. It was published in September 2002.In this survey, the responses to the question 'Overall, how has your life in the RAF been, compared to what you expected?' are set out in the following table:

	Airmen	Officers	Total
Much better than I expected it to be
Number1	59	14	73
Percentage	6.2	6.4	6.2
Better than I expected it to be
Number1	253	59	312
Percentage	26.7	26.8	26.7
As 1 expected it to be
Number1	367	104	471
Percentage	38.7	47.3	40.3

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list (a) the date of original build completion, (b) the date of acceptance into service, (c) the anticipated date of decommissioning, (d) the number of crew, (e) the stores carrying capacity where appropriate and (f) the ownership of (i) RFA Diligence, (ii) RFA Grey Rover, (iii) RFA Gold Rover, (iv) RFA Black Rover, (v) RFA Brambleleaf, (vi) RFA Bayleaf, (vii) RFA Orangeleaf, (viii) RFA Oakleaf, (ix) RFA Fort Rosalie, (x) RFA Fort Austin, (xi) RFA Fort Victoria, (xii) RFA Fort George, (xiii) RFA Argus, (xiv) RFA Sir Bedivere, (xv) RFA Sir Geraint, (xvi) RFA Sir Percivale, (xvii) RFA Sir Tristram, (xviii) RFA Sea Crusader and (xix) RFA Sea Centurion. [99147]

The information requested is contained in the following table:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to (a) replace and (b) add to vessels in the RFA fleet; and if he will make a statement. [99293]

The Royal Navy decommissioned two O-class RFA Fleet tankers during financial year 2000–01: RFA Olwen (commissioned in 1965) and RFA Olna (commissioned in 1966). Two new Wave-class Auxiliary Oilers (AO) RFA Wave Knight and RFA Wave Ruler are expected to enter service in early spring this year.On current plans four of the five Landing Ships Logistics, RFA Sir Geraint, Sir Tristram Sir Percivale and Sir Galahad are expected to be replaced by four larger and more capable Bay Class vessels in 2004 and 2005.1 also refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 10 February 2003,

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what navy ships have been decommissioned since 1997; and what their final destination was. [97286]

A total of 31 Navy ships have been decommissioned since 1997. This figure includes three Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships.

Navy ships decommissioned since 1997	Final destination
HMS Peacock	Philippines
HMS Plover	Philippines
HMS Starling	Philippines
HMS Birmingham	Scrap (Commercial Sale)
HMS Battleaxe	Brazil
HMS Boxer	Not yet known
HMS Beaver	Scrap (Commercial Sale)
HMS Brave	Not yet known
HMS London	Romania
HMS Bicester	Greece
HMS Berkeley	Greece
HMS Orkney	Trinidad and Tobago
HMS Orwell	Guyana
HMS Blackwater	Brazil
HMS Spey	Brazil
HMS Arun	Brazil
HMS Itchen	Brazil
HMS Herald	Commercial Sale
HMS Shetland	Bangladesh

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British service personnel are stationed in Sierra Leone; what changes in numbers have taken place in the last month; and if he will make a statement on the current military situation in Sierra Leone. [99453]

On 31 July 2002 the security situation in Sierra Leone was judged to be benign enough to end Operation Silkman (the overarching operation for United Kingdom forces in Sierra Leone), leaving a self-sustaining UK-led International Military Advisory and Training Team (IMATT). The IMATT currently involves some 120 personnel, comprising 108 UK personnel plus a number of internationals. Six additional UK personnel have been assigned to IMATT within the last month.To display our continued commitment to the settlement process in Sierra Leone on 21 February we deployed a Company Group from 2nd Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles plus HQ and supporting elements (eg logistics and medical)—in total around 310 people. HMS Iron Duke and RFA Black Rover are also planned to deploy to Sierra Leone waters in the next few weeks as a further demonstration of UK commitment.The security situation in Sierra Leone is satisfactory. This deployment demonstrates the UK's continued support to the Government of Sierra Leone, and our ability to conduct such deployments rapidly and at short notice, notwithstanding our involvement in operations elsewhere in the world.The UK also provides the Chief Of Staff, six HQ staff officers and 15 Military Observers to the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL).

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what financial help is available to producers who wish to (a) supply and (b) use combined heat and power. [98901]

The Government's draft Strategy for combined heat and power (CHP) to 2010, consulted on last year and available in the Library to the House, details the range of Government support measures currently in place for CHP. The main measures include:

Climate Change Levy exemption on fuel inputs and, pending the outcome of a State Aid application, on all Good Quality CHP electricity outputs;

Eligibility for Enhanced Capital Allowances;

The £50 million, two-year, Community Energy grant programme; and

eduction in VAT on certain grant-funded domestic micro-CHP installations.

The Energy White Paper, published on 24 February, set out the following further range of measures to support CHP.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the change in use of CHP by companies covered by climate change agreements; and if she will make a statement. [87880]

[pursuant to his answer, 18 December 2002, Official Report, c. 800W]: My answer was sent in error, referring to HFC as opposed to CHP. The answer below corrects the original.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many sightings there have been since June 2001 purporting to be of big cats, broken down by county; what steps have been taken to investigate these; and on how many occasions it has been concluded that a big cat probably was present. [99220]

Big cats, such as tigers, lions, cheetahs, leopards or puma, are not native to the UK and are not naturally found in the wild in this country. There are widespread and frequent reported possible sightings but, despite investigations, the Department is not aware of any confirmed instances of big cats of unknown origin being found out of captivity in England in the last 20 years. The lack of hard evidence (such as captured animals, corpses or photographs) is hard to reconcile with the number of reported sightings, unless people are genuinely but frequently mistaken with their identification.The Department does investigate claims of big cat sightings where there is a potential risk to possible livestock predation. Where livestock deaths are involved and it is likely that hard evidence could be obtained to identify the predator, a field visit may be conducted. However, the Department does not systematically record all alleged sightings.Since June 2001, the Department's Rural Development Service (RDS) have had 22 cases of alleged big cats reported to them connected to possible livestock predation and where there was potentially hard evidence to follow up. There have been two field visits in relation to these reports. The counties for these reports were: Buckinghamshire; Cornwall; Devon (three); Essex (three); Kent; Norfolk; North Somerset (two); North Yorkshire; Oxfordshire; Shropshire; Staffordshire; Suffolk; Surrey (two); Warwickshire; West Midlands; and Wiltshire. In many cases the details of the report provide insufficient circumstantial evidence to justify the expense of a field visit. However, should a field visit be deemed necessary, a trained wildlife biologist carries out detailed searches for various types of evidence such as examining the body in the field for evidence of how it had been killed or checking for footprints. In none of the field visits could any evidence be found to confirm the presence of big cats.Release of big cats into the wild is prohibited under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and possession of these species is regulated under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976. If there is believed to be a public safety issue, for example from an escaped big cat, then this is a matter for the police.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the principal components of the changes in the budget of her Department from 2002–03 to 2005–06; and if she will make a statement. [99289]

Defra's budgets for 2002–03 and the 2002 Spending Review years (2003–04 to 2005–06) are as follows:

£ million
	—03	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06
Resource budget	2,185	2,492	2,452	2,496
Capital budget	241	316	344	354
Total departmental expenditure limit1	2,426	2,808	2,796	2,850
1 Full resource budgeting basis, net of depreciation.

Spending by the Department in 2005–06 will be more than £400 million higher than in 2002–03, supporting a programme of reform. It fulfils the Government's pledge to introduce a significant programme of measures to move the food and farming industries to a long-term sustainable basis, to create thriving and prosperous rural economies and communities and to improve the environment. And it takes full account of the Department's lead role in promoting sustainable development across Government for the good of our citizens, both now and in the future.

Departmental expenditure limit
£000
	Resources	Capital
Core-Defra by business area
2001–02
Animal Health and Welfare	163,664	9,946
Environment	319,463	264,569
Food, Farming and Fisheries	89,059	11,373
Finance, Planning and Resources	10,260	522
Legal Services	6,562	30
Land Use and Rural Affairs	287,615	155,784
Operations and Service Delivery (inc foot and mouth eradication)	499,133	4,403
Policy and Corporate Strategy	3,182	0
Science	143,616	10,944
Agencies
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science	-3,226	13,130
Central Science Laboratory	-2,453	1,953
Pesticides Safety Directorate	-2,712	210
Veterinary Laboratories Agency	-7,375	2,206
Veterinary Medicines Directorate	-691	200
Rural Payments Agency (inc foot and mouth eradication)	449,536	19,510
Total	1,955,633	494,780
2002–03
Animal Health and Welfare	169,907	17,226
Environment	409,767	297,685
Food, Farming and Fisheries	106,949	12,014
Finance, Planning and Resources	10,288	1,954
Legal Services	8,318	19
Land Use and Rural Affairs	291,060	170,993
Operations and Service Delivery (inc foot and mouth eradication)	290,643	24,368
Policy and Corporate Strategy	5,081	0
Science	142,624	13,036
Agencies
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science	-3,253	10,135
Central Science Laboratory	-1,413	1,846
Pesticides Safety Directorate	-2,781	332
Veterinary Laboratories Agency	-9,540	13,819

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her total departmental budget is under the Department Expenditure Limit set in the Comprehensive Spending Review of 2002 in each year from 2001–02 to 2005–06; and how much within each year has been allocated by activity and to each executive agency, broken down by (a) resource and (b) capital. [99287]

The results of the 2002 Spending Review for Defra are as follows:

£ million
	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06
Resource Budget	2,492	2,452	2,496
Capital Budget	316	344	354
Total Departmental Expenditure Limit1	2,808	2,796	2,850
1 Full resource budgeting basis, net of depreciation.

Details of allocated budgets for 2003–04 to 2005–06 will be published in the spring 2003 Departmental Report. The information will include how budgets are allocated to deliver the Department's functions and objectives.The Departmental budgets for 2001–02 and 2002–03 do not form part of Spending Review 2002. However, budget information for these two years, by business area, is provided in the following table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what (a) percentage and (b) gross volume of water intended for drinking purposes was tested for (i) mineral content and (ii) chemical content in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by water company supplier. [99244]

All public water supplies are tested for the most important minerals, namely calcium and magnesium and for 34 other chemicals or group of chemicals. All of the results are required to be put on public records by water companies, and a summary is published in the Annual Report of the Drinking Water Inspectorate.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to reduce the administrative burden on farmers. [98227]

[holding answer 24 February 2003]: The Government's Regulatory Reform Action Plan issued in February 2002 included 59 entries covering all aspects of Defra's responsibility. Many of these will be implemented over the next two years; others will be more long term. They involve changes to EC legislation, major reviews of whole areas of enforcement, inspection and information handling to ease the burden on farmers. We have already had some success, for example from April 2002 inspectors have been carrying out combined bovine risk analysis inspections required by the four IACS cattle schemes. We have introduced simpler rules for sheep producer groups making them easier to understand.Some regulation of agriculture is unavoidable if Defra is to safeguard the environment, public and animal health and public funds. However, our goal is to keep regulation to the minimum and find ways of streamlining the bureaucratic burden that regulation often imposes. We have a long-term strategy (2007) to introduce risk-based environment regulation across all sectors including agriculture. New risk- assessments, standardised permits better reporting arrangements will keep charges down and reduce the bureaucracy of regulation.We are working towards an integrated solution to the problems of regulation and agriculture by developing a whole farm approach. This is a strategy that will be developed in close consultation with industry and other stakeholders and will maximise the benefits of major investments in new IT systems, by bringing together all information held by Defra and other agencies. This will be available to farmers and growers for business planning, and to government to streamline enforcement and tailor advice and guidance to farmers' individual circumstances.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the progress made by Government assisted projects to develop area based (a) sustainable energy projects and (b) domestic energy savings and health initiatives. [96955]

We are making good progress with these projects. The majority of them operate on a national basis, providing assistance to households and communities across the country.To encourage sustainable energy projects:We are spending £50 million over two years on the UK wide Community Energy programme which promotes community heating. So far £8.5m of grants have been approved. Two of these grants have been for innovative energy from waste schemes.The Energy Crops Scheme has allocated £650,000 of grants to promote the establishment of energy crops in England.We fund the Countryside Agency's Community Renewables Initiative, which promotes the establishment of local renewable energy schemes in England.The DTI fund both the UK wide Bio Energy Capital Grants Scheme and the UK wide £10 million Clear Skies initiative. Both are relatively new initiatives. The Bio Energy Capital Grants scheme aims to ensure the development of 100MW biomass heating provision at all scales, whilst Clear Skies provides advice and support for the installation of household and renewable community renewable schemes.To encourage domestic energy savings and health initiatives:We fund the Warm Front grant scheme which assisted over 400,000 households living in Fuel Poverty by installing energy efficiency measures. This indicates that the Government is making good progress toward meeting its target of assisting 600,000 homes by 2004.The Government has established the Energy Efficiency Commitment. The Commitment requires electricity and gas suppliers to achieve targets for the promotion of improvements in energy efficiency, with an emphasis on helping lower income customers. The overall target on all suppliers is a combined saving of 62 fuel-standardised terawatt hours.Defra and DTI are funding a pilot Warm Zones initiative in five areas in England. The zones attempt to identify all fuel poor households in an area, and ensure that existing schemes are used to improve the energy efficiency of those homes. The pilot is being evaluated at present and an interim report is expected shortly.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many inspections were carried out at industrial and waste sites by each individual Environment Agency office in (a) 1997 and (b) 2001; and if she will make a statement. [93707]

Until recently, the Agency has required its regions to report only the annual inspection total for the region as a whole. The regional inspection figures for 1997 and 2001 are as follows:

	Industrial		Waste
Region	1997–98	2001–02	1997–98	2001–02
Anglian	978	616	17,432	13,919
Midlands	850	571	24,895	17,237
North East	1,211	1,150	23,278	17,784
North West	806	646	20,530	13,503
Southern	418	298	11,487	5,515
South West	394	238	15,410	10,206
Thames	343	308	18,950	11,967
Wales	583	413	8,228	6,826

These figures reflect the Agency's move towards a more risk based approach to inspection, with fewer, more in-depth visits targeted on those sites with the greatest potential to harm the environment.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of significant consents to discharge trade effluent to watercourses were reviewed by the Environment Agency in (a) 2001 and (b) 2002. [98700]

The Environment Agency reviewed 10 per cent. of significant trade effluent consents for discharges to watercourses in 2001 and 8 per cent. in 2002.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many recorded incidents of pollution caused by leaking sewerage pipes there have been, broken down by statutory undertaker in each year since 1992. [99272]

Defra does not hold figures on sewage pollution incidents, and while the Environment Agency's database contains figures for pollution incidents for the last two years, it is not possible to identify separately those attributable to leaking sewers.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment has been made of the environmental impact of (a) fat, (b) oils, (c) fuel and (d) other pollutants being poured into drainage and sewerage systems. [99273]