To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his answer to question 178952, whether it is a requirement in the UK that Irish-registered vehicles display up-to-date Irish road tax; and whether there have been prosecutions in the UK for not displaying Irish road tax or an Irish-registered vehicle. [179995]

Vehicles that are circulating temporarily between European Union member states must comply with the registration and licensing requirements of the home country. Enforcement of offences is undertaken by the police. Figures for prosecutions against foreign-registered vehicles are not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many staff from ports police forces were employed at UK seaports and airports in each of the last five years. [177176]

We do not have a breakdown available for each of the last five years as the port authorities are not required to supply employment figures to the Department. However, information collected specifically for our review of ports police shows that, in 2003, the seven port police forces in England and Wales employed a total of 198 sworn in officers (exclusive of civilian support staff). No ports police were employed at airports.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans his Department has to ensure the safety of (a) workers and (b) drivers in areas of extensive road works in the Midlands this year. [179825]

[holding answer 22 June 2004]: The Highways Agency has established the Safer Temporary Traffic Management Operations Initiative to improve safety for both road workers and road users and to raise safety standards in the industry. This initiative involves the Health and Safety Executive, the Scottish Executive, Northern Ireland Roads Service and industry representatives, and is producing improved safety guidance for road workers and is ensuring that consistent best practice is employed.The initiative is developing a testing new and innovative technology, equipment and procedures that could offer safety benefits for both road workers and road users. The Highways Agency is working with contractors and HSE to produce training videos for road workers and their employers.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many miles of safety barriers on the motorway system have been (a) replaced and (b) renovated in each of the last five years. [179662]

Details of the lengths of safety barriers that have been replaced or renewed over the last five years are not available. The total length of safety barriers on England's motorway network is over 3,600 miles. Based on a sample maintenance area, it is estimated that about 50 miles are currently replaced due to accident damage or renewed through scheduled maintenance programmes each year.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the UK's involvement is in the currency exchange programme; who is contracted for it; how much they (a) have been paid to date and (b) are contracted to receive; and if he will make a statement. [179800]

Officials from HM Treasury and the Bank of England provided technical expertise to assist with the planning and delivery of the currency exchange programme in Iraq. UK firms were also involved in the printing of the new banknotes and delivery of the programme, the total cost of which was US Dollars 160 million. Detailed information on payments to individual firms has not been released in order to protect contractual confidentiality.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the working age population is economically active; and what the figures have been for the last 30 years for which figures are available. [179726]

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects the next Butterfield Review to report. [176426]

I have been asked to reply.I cannot at present give the hon. Member a date on which Mr. Justice Butterfield is expected to deliver his interim Report to the Attorney-General and the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, however, I will keep the hon. Member informed.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost of allowing carers of elderly or disabled people to claim working tax credit on the same basis as parents. [179245]

An estimate of the cost of allowing carers for elderly or disabled people to claim working tax credit on the same basis as parents would depend on the definition of a carer.The Government are aware that individuals with caring responsibilities may have constraints on their ability to work because of those responsibilities and will keep under review for the longer term whether the tax credit system can be developed to take account of these constraints

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families are eligible for child tax credit in Chorley; and how many are in receipt of child tax credit. [180404]

For the number of recipient families, I refer my hon. Friend to my answer of 15 March 2004, Official Report, column 98W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Burton (Mrs. Dean).No estimate is available of the number of families in Chorley who are eligible for the child tax credit.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many children in low income households (a) live within the 20 per cent. of wards which are classified as most deprived and (b) live outside those wards. [179242]

I have been asked to reply.The information is not available in the format requested. Specific information regarding low income for Great Britain is available in "Households Below Average Income 1994–95 to 2002–03".The fifth annual "Opportunity for all" report (Cm 5956) sets out the Government's strategy for tackling poverty and social exclusion and presents information on the indicators used to measure progress against this strategy. Both documents are available in the Library.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the percentage change has been in unemployment in (a) St. Helens, South, (b)St. Helens, (c)Merseyside and (d) the north-west since 2001. [178112]

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much estimated additional tax revenue the Treasury has gained from the higher fuel prices paid by the public in the last month for which figures are available. [179772]

Monthly figures on fuel duty receipts are published in the "Customs and Exercise Hydrocarbon Oils Bulletin", a copy of which is available on the UK trade information website (www.uktradeinfo.com). Road fuel duties are charged at a fixed amount per litre and higher road fuel prices generally reduce revenues from fuel duties as they result in lower fuel consumption. The impact of higher oil prices on overall tax revenues and the public finances is complex, and will depend on their wider impact on the economy in general, including the effect on factors such as profitability and retail prices.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 17 May 2004, Official Report, column 725W, on housing, if he will list the costs included in the figure given for the average cost of a new build dwelling for social rent in England in 2003–04. [179191]

The average cost of a new build dwelling for social rent of £116,000 includes land acquisition of £25,000, construction costs of £78,000. The remainder of £13,000 can be attributed to costs such as site development/pre-works and on-costs.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the conclusion of Professors Oswald and Blanchflower, on page 4 of the second report on Calculating an Appropriate Regional Funding Adjustment for Worcestershire on the stance of the Office of National Statistics on access for researchers to check the Government's calculations relating to the Area Cost Adjustment. [177066]

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many payments have been made in respect of (a) unnecessary worry and distress and (b) postage and telephone expenses in respect of tax credits in each of the last three years; what the total value of these payments was in each of the last three years; and what proportion of these (i) have been and (ii) will be reclaimed from companies providing services or support to the Inland Revenue where a problem with the services or support necessitated the compensatory or special payment. [178603]

Information in the form requested is not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the estimated cost of credit card fraud in the UK was in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [179523]

The Government do not collect figures on the cost of credit card fraud but the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) estimates the cost of all plastic card fraud in 2003 to have been £402.4 million, a decrease of 5 per cent. over the previous year.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders have been imposed in (a) Carrick District and (b) Kerrier District. [179268]

Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) have been available to the courts since 1 April 1999. From commencement, up to 31 December 2003 (latest available), the Home Office has been notified of one ASBO being issued within the Carrick District and none within the Kerrier District.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when Ministers in his Department were informed of the suspension of the British Consul in Bucharest. [166553]

Ministers were informed on the 24 March that the Consul in Bucharest had been suspended after admitting having sent anonymous emails to the leader of the Opposition. In the information provided to Ministers at that time no detail was provided of the content of the emails and no connection was drawn between this and previous contact between the Consul and the Immigration and Nationality Directorate

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will prevent British counter-terrorism experts advising Burmese trainees at the new counterterrorism centre in Semarang, Indonesia. [178839]

I have been asked to reply.At the Bali Ministerial conference in February 2004, the UK offered to provide counter-terrorism assistance to South East Asian countries through the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation at Semarang. However, British counter-terrorism experts will not advise Burmese trainees at the centre.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many organisations applied for funding from the Commission for Racial Equality under the Getting Results Scheme; how many applications were successful; when the Commission for Racial Equality and the Home Office agreed which organisations would receive funds; and for what reasons organisations whose applications were unsuccessful were not informed until 10 May. [173778]

[holding answer 17 May 2004.]: The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) received 196 applications for consideration under its Getting Results programme; 93 of these were successful, which is five more than last year.In accordance with section 44 of the Race Relations Act, the CRE is responsible for setting the criteria for its grant programme, and for deciding which applications meet those criteria the Home Office approves the overall level of funding.Applicants for section 44 funding were informed of the outcome of their applications on 6 May. Prior to this the Commission for Racial Equality and the Home Office worked together to agree this year's delegated budget and the CRE assessed the large pool of applications it had received in accordance with its criteria.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with the Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality about the new equality proposals. [178780]

I meet the chairman of the Commission of Racial Equality regularly and discuss a range of issues with him, including the new equality proposals.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crime and disorder reduction partnerships there are; and what assessment he has made of their effectiveness in combating crime. [179431]

There are 354 Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) in England and 22 Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) in Wales. These partnerships bring together a wide range of key agencies that are engaged in tackling crime and disorder, misuse of drugs and anti-social behaviour. Information from a variety of partnership sources including recorded crime statistics and other police and local authority data, is used to assess the impact of partnerships in reducing crime.We are developing an integrated performance management framework for the crime reduction and misuse of drugs agendas which will allow us to agree with each Government Office in the regions (GO) and the Welsh Assembly clear targets for the performance of partnerships in their area, and hold them to account for local delivery. This will be underpinned by a targeted programme of work aimed at identifying and addressing the issues which community safety practitioners themselves tell us remain barriers to success.We have introduced a partnership self-assessment tool, which leads to an improvement planning process, which GOs use to improve partnership performance.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the projects being funded under the Crime Reduction Programme. [179710]

[holding answer 21 June 2004]: The Crime Reduction Programme (CRP) was a pioneering multi-million pound intervention programme, which was initially to run for three years from April 1999. Around £340 million was committed to over 1,470 projects in England and Wales under the 20 separate main initiatives which formed the programme, the largest single investment anywhere in the world in an evidence-based approach to crime reduction.The individual projects are too numerous to list, but the initiatives were as follows:

Initiative	Project
Reducing Burglary Initiative	250
Locks for Pensioners	1
Targeted Policing Initiative	59
Summer Schemes/SPLASH	147
Prostitution	11
On Track	26
Treatment of Offenders	1
Drug Arrest Referrals	1
Effective Schools Management	39
Violence Against Women	58
Vehicle Crime	13
Youth Inclusion	70
Sentencing	3
Neighbourhood Wardens	85
Design Against Crime	1
CCTV initiative	684
Project Spectrum	1
Toolkits	22
Suzy Lamplugh Trust	1
Rape Crisis Federation	1
Arson Control	1
Vehicle Crime publicity	1
Partnership Development Fund	1

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which projects being funded under the Crime Reduction Programme are focused on assessing the effectiveness of advocacy, outreach and support measures for victims of domestic violence. [179712]

[holding answer 21 June 2004]: The Crime Reduction Programme Violence against Women Initiative was an evidence-led project to find out which approaches were effective in supporting victims and tackling violence against women. In July 2000 34 "Round One" multi-agency victim focused pilot projects were funded and independently evaluated. While many of the projects either directly or indirectly supported victims, the following 14 Round One projects specifically aimed to provide support to women who were victims of domestic violence.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Home Office staff are employed in Scotland. [178100]

Staff employed by the Home Office within Scotland are shown in the following table. These staff are from the Main Home Office, the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, and the United Kingdom Passport Agency.

Mandate region: Scotland
	Number
Communities Group	11
Immigration and Nationality Directorate	57
UK Immigration Service (IND)	157
UKPA Glasgow	285
Total	510

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many distraction crimes were reported in each of the last 10 years; and how many successful prosecutions followed in each of those years; [178416]

The information is not available as requested.

Recorded distraction burglary in England and Wales
Police force area	1998–99	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Avon and Somerset	378	545	686	542
Bedfordshire	237	172	339	238
Cambridgeshire	197	221	330	211
Cheshire	182	62	104	178
Cleveland	114	118	210	291
Cumbria	Not available	26	26	31
Derbyshire	415	310	336	287
Devon and Cornwall	204	197	151	192
Dorset	69	134	188	196
Durham	203	141	168	162
Dyfed-Powys	35	65	25	23
Essex	91	462	488	349
Gloucestershire	43	121	247	179
Greater Manchester	1,413	1,462	1,312	1,945
Gwent	110	72	152	70
Hampshire	275	70	203	142
Hertfordshire	222	427	676	498
Humberside	133	98	120	258
Kent	207	124	496	387
Lancashire	135	387	190	235
Leicestershire	Not available	257	330	291
Lincolnshire	48	101	83	113
London, City of	0	9	3	1
Merseyside	389	97	317	377
Metropolitan Police	4,491	4,309	5,015	4,567
Norfolk	43	95	122	82
North Wales	124	38	46	54
North Yorkshire	104	175	147	188
Northamptonshire	245	220	194	325
Northumbria	224	238	137	179
Nottinghamshire	389	345	383	323
South Wales	190	170	91	132
South Yorkshire	374	571	724	978
Staffordshire	252	244	295	397
Suffolk	61	100	275	125
Surrey	195	325	309	139
Sussex	485	192	340	290
Thames Valley	599	706	731	685
Warwickshire	119	129	162	163
West Mercia	176	195	270	313
West Midlands	1,401	1,022	1,630	1,126
West Yorkshire	954	968	1,170	1,141
Wiltshire	Not available	162	176	261
Total	15,526	15,882	19,397	18,664

With effect from 1 April 2003, distraction burglary became a sub-category of "burglary dwelling" under the Home Office counting rules, allowing data on this type of crime to be collated routinely. Crime figures for 2003–04 will be published in July.Prosecution data are not available, as the law does not separately define distraction burglary.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures are in place to prevent distraction crimes; and if he will make a statement. [178418]

Distraction burglary is a callous crime against mainly older members of society. We are determined to do as much as we can to prevent it.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions his Department has had with other Government Departments on combating crime resulting from cold calling. [178420]

In May 2004 the Office of Fair Trading published a report on doorstep selling. This included a recommendation that the Department of Trade and Industry consult on the option of banning cold calling to offer property services.The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford, South (Mr. Sutcliffe), will respond to the report on behalf of the Government. I have discussed the importance of tackling doorstep crime with him. Officials from my Department and his, alongside representatives of other Departments and the devolved Administrations, are already taking forward work in response to the report. The response will be made within 90 days of the report's receipt.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his Department's review of quotas for workers in (a) agriculture, (b) hospitality and (c) food processing in the light of EU enlargement. [179332]

I refer the hon. Member to the statement I made to the House on this issue on 19 May 2004.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much Police (a) time and (b) resources were spent on dealing with problems associated with excessive drinking in the latest year for which figures are available. [179646]

No specific grant is made available to police forces to deal directly with the problems associated with excessive drinking. However, the total Government provision for policing to be supported by grant or spent centrally on services for the police amounts to £10.1 billion, an increase of £2.3 billion or 30 per cent. since 2000–01. It is for individual police forces to decide how they allocate their resources to tackle their crime and disorder priorities.There is provision within the Building Safer Communities Fund (BSC) for Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships to tackle alcohol-related crime—just one of the many crime reduction uses to which BSC funding may be put. Total funding for England and Wales in 2003–04 was £72.3 million, and a further £74 million is being made available this year.The Government attach a high priority to tackling alcohol-fuelled violence. On the 11 June 2004 we announced that the Home Office Police Standards Unit, working in partnership with the Association of Chief Police Officers, will be inviting forces and other partners from across the country to take part in a co-ordinated programme of enforcement and initiatives to tackle alcohol-fuelled violence. The campaign includes targeting the irresponsible few who encourage underage and binge drinking and targeting drunken behaviour. This takes forward one of the recommendations in the Government's Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy (AHRS) for England.The Government's AHRS was published on 15 March 2004. The strategy proposes a series of measures to address the problems of those town and city centres that are blighted by alcohol misuse. The Government are working closely with a range of partners from the drinks industry to statutory authorities to help deliver the recommendations in the AHRS and tackle alcohol misuse.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the cost of policing the G8 summit in 2005 will be borne by (a) the Home Office and (b) the local police authority. [178135]

I understand that the G8 Summit in 2005 will be held in Scotland. Police costs will be a matter for the Scottish Executive although I understand that the Treasury have agreed that extra funds will be made available by the UK Government to help meet the agreed additional policing costs.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate his Department has made of the number of illegal immigrants in Lincolnshire. [179434]

Official estimates of the number of illegal immigrants in the United Kingdom do not exist. The Government have commissioned research into the methods used in other countries to estimate the size of their illegal populations in order to define methods appropriate for the UK.The work required is challenging because, by definition, illegal migrants fall outside of official statistics and are therefore difficult to measure. People illegally present in the UK are also motivated to ensure they remain hidden, which is a challenge to conducting research.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress with the overhaul of the immigration service recently announced by the Prime Minister. [179500]

[holding answer 18 June 2004]: To support the "top to bottom" review of the immigration system called for by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary set up managed migration taskforces.The taskforces work across the whole of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) and with other departments and stakeholders to identify and address any areas of abuse of managed migration routes, drawing on intelligence, the experience of front line staff and management information from across the system. In this way, the Department is building on what worked to reduce abuse of the asylum system, in a comprehensive monitoring and reporting framework. This will allow resources to be properly directed to target potential abuse even before problems arise.Based on the work to date, we have already announced a number of steps to tackle abuses of the marriage, students and employment routes. These include:To date the student taskforce has visited 401 colleges about which we had suspicions and applications to those institutions clearly found to be bogus are now being refused. A registration scheme is being established for genuine colleges and will be operational by the turn of the year. Once this has been done, student visas will not be issued in respect of colleges not on the register. We are discussing with the education sector how best to implement arrangements for notifying us of overseas students who fail to turn up for, or drop out of, a course.To tackle the increasing problem of sham marriages being used to circumvent immigration controls, the Government are bringing forward legislation to establish powers to restrict the authorisation of marriages involving foreign nationals from outside the EEA to designated register offices and to introduce a pre-marriage eligibility requirement for such cases. IND officials have already formed a cross governmental joint working group made up of officials from the Offices of the Registrars General for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Department of Constitutional Affairs, the Church of England, LACORS, and registrars from across the UK. The Group is working on identifying strengths and weaknesses of current systems and will facilitate the introduction of the aforementioned designated centres.Based on the analysis and recommendations of the employment and business taskforce, the Sectors Based Scheme quota has been cut for the year beginning 1 June 2004. The Scheme has been reduced from a total of 20,000 to 6,000 in food processing and 9,000 in hospitality. The Government have also announced that the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme quota will be reduced in 2005 by 35 per cent. These cuts reflect the proportion of the previous year's quotas taken up by workers from the accession countries, who are now entitled to come and work in the United Kingdom under the worker's registration scheme. The taskforce is currently consulting on introducing country-specific quotas which will be dependent on countries having satisfactory returns agreements with the UK.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the steps he is taking to provide funding to Neighbourhood Watch schemes. [177724]

Neighbourhood Watch Schemes are local partnerships between communities, the Police, local authorities and others.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the steps he is taking to provide funding to the National Neighbourhood Watch Association. [177725]

The National Neighbourhood Watch Association is an independent organisation that has funded itself from commercial sponsorship since its foundation.The Home Office nevertheless provided the National Neighbourhood Watch Association with exceptional grants totalling £350,000 during 2003. Following an audit of the National Neighbourhood Watch Association's finances, and taking account of Government accounting rules, the Home Secretary declined to grant further funds.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has held with the National Neighbourhood Watch Association regarding funding for Neighbourhood Watch. [177730]

[holding answer 9 June 2004]: The Home Office's discussions with the National Neighbourhood Watch Association have focused on the funding for that organisation rather than for the local schemes. We are not aware of any specific proposals from the National Neighbourhood Watch Association in relation to funding for individual Neighbourhood Watch Schemes.However, the Government support Neighbourhood Watch schemes as a partnership between communities, the police and local authorities in various ways. This includes supplying free publications and training materials, sponsoring national conferences in 2002 and 2003, and significant amounts of Police and local authority staff time.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time taken to process applications was for leave to remain for doctors from overseas on work permits wishing to work in the NHS in the most recent period for which figures are available. [179807]

The information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time taken to process an application was for permit-free postgraduate training status for overseas doctors in training wishing to work and train in the NHS in the most recent period for which figures are available. [179808]

Figures for the average time taken to process individual types of applications are not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to reduce the (a) cost to and (b) administrative burden on overseas doctors in training of renewing their permit-free postgraduate training status to enable them to work in the NHS. [179809]

Overseas doctors here for postgraduate training do not require work permits but must meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules for leave to remain in this capacity. Charging for general leave to remain applications was introduced on 1 August 2003 and individual applicants must pay the requisite fee. The fee is £155 for a postal application and £250 for personal callers who wish to apply at one of the four Public Enquiry Offices.Fees are set by Treasury rules to recover the full administrative cost entailed in considering applications and no more. We will be reviewing the fee annually and as such consideration will be given to improving the way the charging system is operated and the feasibility of differential charges. We have announced that there would be consultation before any more changes to the fee are made, and the consultation is planned for this autumn.Since the introduction of charges on 1 August 2003, we have been completing 70 per cent. of postal applications within three weeks of receiving them in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) and are continuing to do this. We may not be able to complete applications within three weeks of receipt if they need further documents, inquiries or an interview, or if they are complex. We should deal with these within 13 weeks at most. If applicants use the right form, pay the correct fee, provide all the required documents and photographs, and sign and date the form, it will help the chances of their application being completed quickly.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will introduce free passports for British passport holders over 75 years. [179393]

The United Kingdom Passport Service is currently pursuing options to introduce the scheme, which will provide free passports for all British Nationals born on or before 2 September 1929. It is the United Kingdoms Passport Service's intention to introduce this scheme in the autumn 2004.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Initial Crime Investigators Department Programme will include training of uniformed officers who deal with sexual offence investigation; and if he will make a statement. [171024]

The Initial Crime Investigators Development Programme delivered by CENTREX is aimed at Trainee Investigators with the potential to become Detective Constables. It includes the investigation of sexual offences. The programme has been implemented nationally since January 2003 and is currently being delivered in 38 out of 43 forces, with the remainder moving towards full implementation.The CENTREX National Centre for Policing Excellence is also working on national training development in this area. It is intended to design a national programme to develop "Specially Trained Officers". These officers are usually uniformed officers who provide victim care, while also ensuring optimum evidence retrieval. The aim is for this programme to be piloted from the end of 2004.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were returned to (a) Somaliland and (b) Somalia in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement. [179512]

Although Somaliland declared its independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, it is not recognised internationally and asylum applicants received from those originating from that part of Somalia are not recorded separately.Information on the total number of people who are removed from the United Kingdom is not available by nationality except by examination of individual case-files at disproportionate cost.Estimates of the number of Somali nationals who had sought asylum at some stage and were removed from the UK between 1999 and 2003 are shown in the table. These figures include persons departing "voluntarily' after the initiation of enforcement action against them, and persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Returns Programmes run by the International Organisation for Migration.

Removals and voluntary departures1,2 of asylum applicants, excluding dependants, nationals of Somalia, 1999 to 2003– United Kingdom
	Number of persons
1999	n/a
2000	n/a
2001	25
20023	50
20033	50
n/a—not available
1 All data have been rounded to the nearest 5.
2 Includes persons departing "voluntarily' after enforcement action had been initiated against them, persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Return Programmes run by the International Organisation for Migration, and removals on safe third country grounds. Excludes dependants of asylum seekers.
3 Provisional data.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether a memorandum of understanding, similar to that signed with the administration in Somaliland, has been signed with any authority in Somalia. [178091]

The UK has not signed a memorandum of understanding on the return of failed asylum seekers with any authority in Somalia.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many speeding fines were issued in Greater London, broken down by borough, in (a) 2001 and (b) 2002; [179355]

[holding answer 18 June 2004]: Available information showing the total number of fixed penalties and written warnings issued and court proceedings for speeding offences within Greater London for 2001 and 2002 are given in the tables. It is not possible from the data collected centrally to identify each London borough.Information on the number of fixed penalties paid or fines paid for speeding offences is not collected centrally.

Table A: Fines and fixed penalties data for speeding offences1, Greater London2, 2001 and 2002
Number of offences
	Court proceedings fines issued	Fixed penalty notices issued
2001	8,941	59,125
2002	8,090	58,116
1 Offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and Motor Vehicles (Speed Limits on Motorways) Regulations 1973.
2 The Metropolitan and City of London Police combined.

Table B: Speeding offences1 detected by type of action, Greater London2, 2001 and 2002
Number of offences
	2001	2002
Type of action
Court proceedings total findings of guilt	9,049	8,202
Fixed penalty notices issued	59,125	58,116
Written warnings issued	23	14
Total	68,197	66,332
1 Offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and Motor vehicles (Speed Limits on Motorways) Regulations 1973.
2 The Metropolitan and City of London Police combined.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many employees in his Department have (a) signed a formal opt out from and (b) are exempt from the Working Time Directive; and how many employees in his Department have recorded hours, including any accruing on a flexitime basis, in excess of the maximum allowed under the Working Time Directive in the last month for which figures are available. [178376]

Employees working in excess of 48 hours per week are required to sign an "Opt-Out" agreement. Departments and agencies are required to maintain a register of all staff who have signed such an agreement.

Name of Department	Agreements signed. Number of "opt-out"	Number of employees who are exempt	Number of employees accruing in excess of maximum hours
Home Office	71	—	—
IND	—	—
Prison Service	n/a	n/a	n/a

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what work her Department is undertaking to ensure that industry increases the energy efficiency of (a) televisions and (b) television set-top boxes when in stand-by mode. [179172]

The Department's Market Transformation Programme, working closely with the DTI and in consultation with industry and other experts, has established a substantial evidence base on the energy consumption of appliances and equipment in use, including standby mode, and on the potential for improvement.For TVs and set-top boxes, we have sought undertakings by manufacturers to reduce both "on" and "stand-by" power consumption. Following an EU industry commitment, we expect that the majority of new televisions sold in the UK will soon consume around 1 Watt of power in stand-by mode rather than the 3-8 Watts consumed by older models. Furthermore, our commitment to more sustainable procurement requires any Government Department which purchases televisions to specify a stand-by power requirement of no more that 1 Watt.My Department has strongly supported the development of the EU voluntary Code of Conduct for set top boxes, which we estimate will already secure energy savings of about 3 Terawatt hours per annum by 2010. We are working via the EU and channels such as the IEA to further raise the profile of this policy issue. We are also working with the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes and the Energy Saving Trust to explore the scope to use the Efficiency Recommended logo to encourage consumers to choose boxes which use the least energy. And, with DTI, we have agreed on minimum and best practice standards as part of the Government's policy on the switch over to digital TV services.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of energy consumption arising from the use of set top television boxes in the last year for which figures are available. [179192]

The Department's Market Transformation Programme has estimated that there were about 10 million set top television boxes in use in the UK in 2003, which consumed about 1.3 Terawatt hours of electricity. The estimate for 2004 is that the number of boxes in use will rise to nearly 12.5 million, with electricity consumption approaching 1.5 Terawatt hours. (The estimates cover the separate boxes which are used to receive digital TV signals via cable, satellite and Freeview transmissions. They do not include the energy consumed by decoders which are built into televisions and recording equipment.)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many agricultural workers are on the Seasonal Agricultural Workers programme in Lincolnshire. [179435]

In 2004 so far 607 work cards have been issued under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme to scheme participants planning to work on farms in Lincolnshire.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how her Department models the external costs of energy-related activities in the UK. [R] [178320]

There are several types of external costs that are usually associated with energy activities, including impacts on noise, health, buildings, crops, ecosystems and global warming. The most important externalities of energy activity in the UK are attached to emissions to air, including emissions of CO2 and of local pollutants.The DTI UK Energy Model is the most comprehensive source of forecasts of CO2 emissions from energy use. The UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI), which is funded by Defra and Devolved Administrations, annually compiles estimates of emissions to the atmosphere from UK sources such as cars, trucks, power stations and industrial plants. Estimates of emissions of pollutants to air are a fundamental input to the air quality modelling work that the Department carries out to assess ambient concentrations of important air pollutants and to estimate their health and other impacts.Valuation of non-market impacts is a challenging but important element of appraisal, and should be attempted wherever feasible. However valuation techniques are constantly being refined and considerable uncertainty typically characterises monetary estimates of the marginal damage costs associated to emissions of various pollutants.A Government Economic Service working paper 'Estimating the Social Cost of Carbon Emissions' suggested a range of illustrative estimate for the global damage cost of carbon emissions. These figures are currently being reviewed by an interdepartmental group on the social cost of carbon which is expected to report by the end of the year.The Department of Health's Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) advises on how to quantify the health impacts associated with changes in local pollutant emissions, including PM 10, NOx, SO2 and ozone. Currently there is no UK agreed monetary value that can be used for the reduction in risk of deaths brought forward by air pollution due to a lack of empirical evidence in the field. However, Defra has recently published a study which attempts to generate a theoretical range of monetary values for health benefits and is considering the feasibility of recommending a range of values to monetise the health impacts associated with air pollution for use in policy appraisal.The Government also follow with interest the work of ExternE, a major EU-funded research study on the external cost of energy.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what discussions she had with the Home Secretary about firearms prior to the issue of the recent consultation paper; [179195](2) what mechanism she uses to present her views on the rural affairs aspects of firearms law to the Home Secretary; [179196](3) what assessment she has made of the implications for the rural economy of the Home Office firearms consultation paper. [179197]

The Government are committed to rural proofing all domestic policies to take account of rural circumstances and needs. Defra will be contributing to the process of consultation as it affects the Departments responsibilities through the normal processes of collective Government.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when her Department plans to (a) commence and (b) report on the proposed consultation on co-existence and liability of GM crops. [179979]

[holding answer 22 June 2004]: We are currently preparing our consultation package on the issue of the co-existence of GM and non-GM crops in discussion with the authorities in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and this will be issued as soon as possible. A consultation period of three months is envisaged, following which we will decide on the next steps. No GM crops currently have the necessary approvals for cultivation in the UK and we do not anticipate any move towards commercial cultivation of GM crops here before 2006 at the earliest.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she intends to preserve the current effective ban on the live export of horses for overseas consumption. [179194]

The Government are not in favour of the live export of horses for slaughter and have worked closely with animal welfare organisations on this issue and to strengthen the welfare requirements for horses in transit. While there is no ban on the export of horses and ponies for slaughter and never has been, we will retain and continue to operate the current minimum values and licensing rules unless and until we succeed in obtaining EU-wide modern, welfare-based arrangements to protect horses and ponies.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many live cattle were exported to EU member states in each of the past three years. [179405]

There have been no exports of live cattle to EU member states in the past three years. The export of live cattle from the UK is banned under EU legislation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what support is available to fund the South West Plan for Sustainable Farming and Food. [178202]

The delivery plan for Sustainable Farming and Food (SFF) in the South West, "Making a difference", was launched on 26 May after extensive consultation. It has been drawn up by the stakeholders who will be responsible for implementing the actions detailed within it.The delivery of the South West plan, as with all of the SFF regional delivery plans, will be facilitated by many public body and industry representatives and these organisations will work together with both resource and funding support to deliver the vision detailed in the plan. They are making use of Government grants, industry support and the resources of the Government Office and Regional Development Agency, as well as other Government bodies participating in the regional steering group. In particular, existing support programmes, including the England Rural Development Programme and the objective 1 agriculture programme in Cornwall, have been targeted to deliver the SFF plan; also the Regional Development Agency is making considerable resources available to support delivery of the plan. Given the number of public and industry bodies contributing to delivery of the plan, it is not possible precisely to quantify the level of support available to fund the plan.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total amount paid by her Department to employment agencies for the supply of temporary staff was in financial year 2003–04. [178914]

The total amount paid to employment agencies for the supply of temporary staff in Defra itself in financial year 2003–04 was £12.02 million. To supply the information for Defra agencies would involve disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if she will make a statement on the withdrawal of the vital villages scheme and its potential impact of the continuation of voluntary shop initiatives in rural areas; [179295]

The vital villages scheme was established in 2001 as a time-limited programme. The Countryside Agency has met its three-year target to help rural communities to help themselves and to demonstrate good practice through the vital villages scheme and the programme is now closed to new applicants.During 2004–05 the Countryside Agency will continue to provide funding to rural voluntary shops from the vital villages programme where existing commitments exist.Other possible sources of funding and support for voluntary shops include: funding from district councils; for those eligible, rate relief from local authorities; community bond and share schemes, through which some community shoos have raised funds; and, for those with strong community backing, Defra's Rural Enterprise Scheme.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she last met representatives of the Village Retail Services Association; and if she will make a statement of what help is now forthcoming to that organisation. [179321]

I last met representatives from the Village Retail Services Association (ViRSA) on 16 December 2003 and I have a further meeting arranged in early July 2004. The Government value the work of the associations for its support to village shops and post offices.The Countryside Agency has recently been approached for funding by ViRSA and progress has been made towards agreeing support to fund formal Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative accreditation for several ViRSA fieldworkers, which will allow them to contract to Business Links to provide advice and support to rural retailers. Once accredited, fieldworkers could generate more income for ViRSA and in addition to the Countryside Agency is willing to fund a Business Counselling Training seminar for ViRSA fieldworkers associated with their accreditation.ViRSA has also proposed that the agency fund a joint meeting and that the agency help with support costs of ViRSA in developing regional relationships and securing future funding—particularly with the rural development agencies with whom the remit for advice to rural retailers (via Business Links) will lie. The agency is awaiting a costed breakdown of what ViRSA's aims, objectives and projected outputs are for these areas of work.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much was spent per pupil for (a) primary and (b) secondary school education in (i) Brent East, (ii) the London borough of Brent and (iii) London in each year since 1997. [172804]

The information requested is submitted to the Department according to local education authority areas rather than districts within an area. Brent East is a district of Brent local education authority. The information for Brent LEA is as follows:

Net current expenditure (after recharges) per pupil
£
Brent LEA	Primary education	Pre-primary & Primary	Secondary education
1997–98	n/a	2,370	4,610
1998–99	n/a	2,650	5,060
1999–2000	2,630	2,710	3,320
2000–01	2,710	2,810	3,740
2001–02	3,050	3,160	4,090
2002–03	3,230	3,370	4,330

£
Greater London	Primary education	Pre–primary & Primary	Secondary education
1997–98	n/a	2,340	3,130
1998–99	n/a	2,520	3,250
1999–2000	2,630	2,750	3,280
2000–01	2,820	3,000	3,540
2001–02	3,160	3,380	4,020
2002–03	3,440	3,610	4,320
Notes:
1. The financial data are taken from LEAs' Section 52 Outturn Statements submitted to the DfES from 1999–2000 onwards and the ODPM's RO1 statement previously. 2002–03 data is subject to change by the LEA. Expenditure was not distinguished between pre–primary and primary sectors until the inception of the Section 52 outturn statement in 1999–2000.
2. 1999–2000 figures reflect the return of GM schools to local authority maintenance. Brent LEA had 11 GM schools out of 13. The GM schools were not included in the 1998–99 data but were in 1999–00. If 1997–98 and 1998–99 figures are adjusted to include funding and pupils, the figures become 3,019 for 1997–98 and 3,171 for 1998–99.
3. The outturn 2002–03 tables captured the data in a fundamentally different way to the previous years. Categories were aligned with the Consistent Financial Reporting framework and the spending by LEAs was no longer split by school sector. Consequently the unit costs per pupil in 2002–03 are not strictly comparable with earlier years as they include an apportionment of LEA expenditure based on pupil numbers Figures are rounded to the nearest £10.
4. Net current expenditure (NCE) includes expenditure within schools and also that incurred centrally by the LEA.
5. The NCE per pupil figures for pre–primary & primary relate the net current expenditure (after recharges) in the pre-primary sector and maintained primary schools to the total number of financial year pupils who are educated in the maintained nursery and primary schools sector.
6. The NCE per pupil figures for secondary relate the net current expenditure (after recharges) in maintained secondary schools to the total number of financial year pupils who are educated in the maintained secondary schools sector.
7. Pupil data are drawn from the Annual Schools Census adjusted to be on a financial year basis.

LEA	Number of schools in "serious weakness"	Number of schools with GCSE performance under 30 per cent.	Number of schools in Special Measures
Knowsley	0	3	0
Lancashire	0	2	0
Leeds	2	8	1
Leicester	0	2	0
Manchester	1	4	0
Newcastle upon Tyne	1	3	0
Newham	0	1	0

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will estimate the annual cost of educating all pupils currently within the private education sector in the state sector. [176939]

We have made no such estimate.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the correlation between value added measures of school performance and absolute measures of school performance, with particular reference to GCSE/GNVQ results. [179899]

[holding answer 22 June 2004]: For maintained mainstream schools published in the 2003 Secondary (GCSE/GNVQ) performance tables, the correlation between the school KS3-GCSE value added measure and the school average capped point score for 15-year-olds was 0.46.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list, for each of the last five years, for each English local education authority, the total number and percentage of parents lodging an appeal against the allocation of a place for their child in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools. [176702]

[holding answer 10 June 2004]: The requested information has been placed in the House of Commons Library.Due to changes in the underlying data collection, the percentage of appeals lodged given in this table for 2001–02 is not directly comparable with earlier years.Information on admission appeals lodged in 2002–03 will be published in a Statistical First Release on 17 June.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in each of the successful bids for wave one of Building Schools for the Future were designated as (a) weak, (b) underperforming and (c) failing. [172908]

The following table shows the data requested for areas included in wave one of Building Schools for the Future. The LEAs' projects were chosen on the basis of the educational and social need of the schools included, the quality of the authorities' educational plans, and the authorities' capacity to deliver a large procurement.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make grants to sports clubs and associations conditional on their use and purchase only of equipment which has not been manufactured using child labour. [179773]

The Government are strongly committed to helping eliminate child labour throughout the world and fully support the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in this area. Although sports governing bodies do not have the resources to enable them to research how equipment funded by grants has been manufactured, the Government do urge all UK importing industries to be scrupulous in their choice of suppliers and ensure that they uphold the ILO core labour standards, including those on child labour. The UK has ratified all of the related ILO core Conventions and has provided £15 million to the ILO's International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her policy is on ensuring that all people in the UK have access to a diverse media. [179742]

The Government are committed to ensuring that all people in the United Kingdom have access to diverse media and brought forward the Communications Act 2003 to deliver that policy. For example, the Act requires the new communications regulator, Ofcom, to secure the availability throughout the United Kingdom of a wide range of electronic communications services and a wide range of television and radio services. Ofcom must also have regard to the desirability of encouraging the availability and use of high speed data transfer services throughout the United Kingdom. These responsibilities are supported by other provisions of the Act and by the Government's own policies for extending the availability of digital television services.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent information she has received about important cultural artefacts taken from (a) the Museum of Baghdad and (b) elsewhere in Iraq being discovered (i) in the UK, (ii) in other European Union countries, (iii) in the US and (iv) on the international arts market; and if she will make a statement. [179338]

Estimates made available to us suggest that, of the 40 important "iconic" objects stolen from the exhibition halls of the Iraq Museum, about half have now been recovered. Of the 15,000 objects taken from the storerooms about 7,000 have been recovered, which means that around 8,000 are still missing (including 5,000 cylinder seals). So far as I am aware none of the objects stolen from the museum has been recovered in the UK.Further information was received by the Interpol Tracking Task Force for Iraq at its meeting on 30 and 31 May in Jordan with updates from Interpol the US, UK, France, Italy and Jordan.France and Italy stated that no objects from the museum had been recovered in their country although both had seized some items of Iraqi origin, possibly from illegal excavations.The US have recently seized three cylinder seals from the Iraq Museum (marked with IM numbers) and they have also seized several consignments of property suspected of being excavated from Iraq.Jordanian and Syrian customs have been very active and made many significant seizures including cylinder seals and an Ivory chairback (on the "most wanted" list).The conference recognised the use of the internet to sell suspicious property from Iraq and made recommendations that are published on the Interpol website.The Metropolitan Police Art and Antiques Unit has recovered a number of Iraqi objects stolen between the wars and they are in the process of repatriating them.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she expects the Museum of Baghdad to reopen; and if she will make a statement. [179339]

This is a matter for Iraq's interim Government and the Iraq State Board of Antiquities to decide.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many defendants were granted bail in Northern Ireland in each year since 1999 where they were charged with (a) attempted murder, (b) armed robbery, (c) assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and (d) manslaughter. [169929]

I have been asked to reply.The information sought is not readily available, but is currently being collated, and will be provided as soon as possible.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the future development of direct patient reporting of adverse drug reactions. [178659]

The yellow card scheme is the United Kingdom system for collecting and monitoring information on suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs). The scheme is run by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on behalf of the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) and currently depends on voluntary reporting of suspected ADRs by health professionals. The purpose of the scheme is to provide an early warning that the safety of a product may require further investigation.Following an independent review of access to the yellow card scheme, it was announced on 4 May 2004 that the recommendation that patients should be able to report suspected adverse drug reactions directly to the CSM/MHRA had been accepted in principle.The MHRA is currently developing proposals to pilot different arrangements for patient reporting to gauge effectiveness. The Licensing Authority will reach a decision on the proposals, taking into account the advice of the CSM.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will instruct the National Institute for Clinical Excellence to investigate and compare the clinical effectiveness of beef, pork and synthetic insulins. [R] [179548]

We have no plans to refer this topic to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence.

Total waste disposal costs by year
£ million
SHA	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire	1.54	2.28	2.19	1.97
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	0.86	1.27	1.55	1.65
Birmingham and the Black Country	1.84	1.61	1.94	2.13
Cheshire and Merseyside	1.37	1.81	1.84	2.40
County Durham and Tees Valley	0.75	0.84	0.90	1.07
Cumbria and Lancashire	1.40	1.43	1.46	1.65
Dorset and Somerset	0.75	1.45	0.84	0.95
Essex	1.12	0.60	1.10	1.52
Greater Manchester	2.55	2.39	2.55	3.16
Hampshire and Isle of Wight	1.23	1.39	1.49	1.98
Kent and Medway	1.04	0.99	1.13	1.25
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	1.14	1.28	2.17	164
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire	1.58	1.43	1.52	2.01
North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	1.36	1.45	1.62	1.61
North Central London	1.90	1.83	1.92	2.73
North East London	1.63	1.69	2.09	2.37
North West London	2.52	2.53	3.40	2.44
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	1.27	1.21	1.54	1.73
Shropshire and Staffordshire	1.02	1.25	1.36	1.50
South East London	1.29	1.55	1.99	2.21
South West London	1.37	1.39	1.61	1.97

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of insulin dependent diabetics prescribed (a) beef,(b) pork and (c) other insulins in each of the past 10 years for which figures are available. [R] [179549]

The Department does not hold this data.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with insulin manufacturers about the continuity of future supply to patients. [R] [179551]

The Department is in regular contact with the companies who manufacture insulin. None of them currently has any plans to withdraw from the United Kingdom market.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has responsibility for the continuity of supply for (a) all insulins, (b)specific insulins and (c) an insulin; and if he will make a statement. [R] [179552]

The Department is in regular contact with the companies which supply insulins to the United Kingdom market and makes every effort to ensure that patients continue to receive the treatment they require. However the Department has no powers to force a company to continue to market a product if, for any reason, it is unable to do so.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to the NHS of waste disposal by (a) landfill and (b) incineration, in England was in each year since 1996, broken down by (i) NHS region and (ii) strategic health authority. [178247]

The table shows the cost to the national health service of waste disposal in each year since 1999–2000. This information was not collected prior to that date and is therefore shown by strategic health authority (SHA) area only. Information on the breakdown of this cost by disposal method is not collected centrally.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of whether all strategic health authorities have robust processes in place to ensure that National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidance is (a) planned for and (b) followed through; and if he will make a statement. [179453]

A number of recent studies, including that undertaken by the national cancer director, have showed some variations in the effectiveness of local planning and implementation mechanisms for National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance. We have recently announced a programme of action to help the national health service respond positively to NICE guidance, including action by strategic health authorities.

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs in how many antisocial behaviour order cases magistrates' clerks have advised that hearsay evidence is inadmissible. [180107]

The information requested is not collected and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment he has made of the speed of anti-social behaviour order convictions in (a) West Lancashire, (b)Nottinghamshire and (c) England. [180108]

I am not aware of delays in dealing with breaches of ASBOs in the geographical areas mentioned or within England and Wales. Detailed information is not collected by my Department and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the turnout was as a percentage of eligible voters at the European parliamentary elections (a) this year and (b) in 1999, broken down by region. [179695]

I refer the hon. Member to the written statement made in the House on 21 June 2004, column 72Ws, comparing the turnout for the European