asked Her Majesty's Government:What arrangements have been made for the transfer of outstanding business from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Court of Final Appeal on 1st July 1997.

The jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council will automatically lapse with Britain's administration of Hong Kong as from 1st July 1997.The Judicial Committee will make every effort to ensure that outstanding Hong Kong business is dealt with before 1st July. It is nevertheless clear that there will come a point after which it will become unlikely for practical purposes that the Committee will be able to accept new business with a reasonable expectation of being able to dispose of it before the handover. That point is likely to be 1st March.Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal Ordinance provides that any appeal in respect of which the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council or the Hong Kong Court of Appeal has granted conditional, final or special leave to appeal to the Committee and the Appeal has not finally been disposed of on or before 30th June 1997, shall proceed in the Court of Final Appeal.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have informed governments throughout the world that the ethnic minorities of Hong Kong will be entitled to the full diplomatic protection of the United Kingdom after the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong.

Her Majesty's Government extend consular protection to all British nationals overseas in line with international law. This position is well known to other governments. The ethnic minorities in Hong Kong will continue to hold British nationality after the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong and they will be accorded British consular protection.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What grants have been paid from government sources to the European Movement since 1985 and by which department or departments.

Until 1985 the Government made grants of £30,000 a year to the European Movement. This regular funding was phased out between 1985 and 1990. Further one-off grants were made in 1992 and 1994. The grants given since 1985 have therefore been:

• 1984–85: £30,000
• 1985–86: £20,000
• 1986–87: £15,000
• 1987–88: £10,000
• 1988–89: £5,000
• 1992: £30,000
• 1994: £10,000

The grants have been made by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department of Trade and Industry. There are no plans to offer financial assistance to the European Movement in future years.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they consider that there are shortcomings in the present system for appointing judges to the European Court of Human Rights, and what suggestions they have made to improve the system.

The Government have put certain proposals to the other States Members of the Council of Europe on improvements to the procedure for appointing judges to the new Protocol 11 Court when it comes into existence in 1998-99. These would include an arrangement whereby the names of national candidates for the Court would be exchanged informally within the Committee of Ministers before they are passed to the Assembly. We hope to discuss these and other ideas further in the Council of Europe in the new year.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Following the recent World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting, what new specific action (a) within the developing countries (especially the least developed countries), (b) within the industrialised countries, and (c) between the developing countries (especially the least developed) and the industrialised countries will now be taken to help reduce global poverty and assist sustainable development.

The Government believe that barriers to trade are one of the greatest obstacles to world prosperity and that sustainable development for all countries can best be achieved by continuing the momentum for the general lowering of tariffs and freeing of trade that was achieved through the successful conclusion of the Uruguay Round in 1994. Our overall aim for the Ministerial Conference in Singapore was therefore to carry forward that liberalising agenda and to consolidate the role of the World Trade Organisation, which provides the secure trading environment for all trading nations and is particularly vital to more fragile developing country economies.World Trade Ministers in Singapore agreed a substantial work programme to carry forward trade liberalisation in the WTO, including new work on trade facilitation, standards, government procurement and investment. The biggest immediate trade liberalising achievement of the conference was an agreement in principle between the EU, US and a number of other countries, including Japan, Canada, Korea and Indonesia, to phase out tariffs on a wide range of information technology products by the year 2000. The new work programme and this agreement offer benefits to developed and developing countries alike.The Singapore Conference Declaration also commits WTO members to address the problem of marginalisation for Least Developed Countries and confirmed a comprehensive action plan which paves the way for consideration of better market access provisions and for more focused and co-ordinated trade related technical assistance. There will be a conference in Geneva in the first part of 1997, to be attended by all relevant international organisations, which will have the objective of fostering this more integrated approach to assistance.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why sick Gulf War veterans who request copies of their medical notes in order to assist their general practitioners are required to pay a handling charge of £10 plus 10 pence for each single sided A4 sheet, and whether they consider this practice reasonable.

No charge is made to general practitioners who request copies of Service medical notes to assist their treatment of ex-Service personnel. Under the Access to Health Records Act 1990, a charge of £10 to cover the cost of retrieval plus a photocopying charge per sheet may be made to individuals who themselves request their medical notes. The Ministry of Defence normally levies such charges, as does the National Health Service.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Statement on Gulf War illness repeated by the Earl Howe on 10th December (H.L. Deb., cols. 953-7), whether full details of the vaccines (including adjuvants) administered to members of HM Armed Forces who served in Operation Granby will now be made available to their general practitioners.

As has been the practice throughout for veterans attending the Medical Assessment Programme, these details will be made available to general practitioners on request if the information is available on individual medical records. If this information is not recorded, general practitioners will be advised of the vaccinations which their patients are likely to have received.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will review their written reply of the 4th June 1996 (H.L. Deb., WA 120) to the Countess of Mar in the light of evidence that chemical weapons were deployed and used during the Gulf War.

My department keeps this matter under continuous review, in close liaison with the US authorities. Neither our own research nor that of the American authorities has so far provided any corroborative evidence for the deployment or use of chemical warfare weapons during the conflict.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the outcome of the Fisheries Council held in Brussels on 19th-20th December.

My honourable friend the Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food represented the United Kingdom at the meeting of the Fisheries Council in Brussels on 19th-20th December, together with my honourable friend the Under-Secretary of State at the Scottish Office and my noble friend the Under-Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office.The Council agreed by qualified majority, with Belgium and Sweden voting against, the total allowable catches and quotas to apply in 1997 in Community waters. The agreement fulfilled the Government's objective of securing the best possible deal for British fishermen consistent with the scientific advice and the conservation of stocks for the future. In the final package the total UK quotas agreed for the stocks of most importance to our fishermen were some 23,000 tonnes higher in cod equivalent terms than the quotas being discussed at the start of the negotiations. The increase is worth approximately £16 million to the industry and leaves our total quotas in cod equivalent terms for these stocks just one half of one per cent. below the 1996 level.My honourable friend the Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food invoked the Hague Preference on all the stocks where it was necessary to do so. Quota swaps were agreed immediately after the Council to mitigate the impact arising from use of Hague Preference by the Republic of Ireland, in particular on stocks of importance to the Northern Ireland industry.The Council agreed unanimously to access and quota arrangements for 1997 with neighbouring non-member states. The United Kingdom has large cod and haddock quotas at North Norway and these were increased by 16 per cent. and 13 per cent. respectively. We have retained our quotas in Faroese, Greenland and Iceland waters at the same levels as in 1996. The Council also agreed unanimously to the allocation of the Community's 1997 quotas in the waters covered by the North-West Atlantic Fisheries Organisation, together with technical conservation and control measures applicable to those waters, and to the allocation of the Community's 1997 redfish quota in the waters covered by the North Atlantic Fisheries Commission, together with management measures for those waters.The Council continued its discussion of objectives for the next series of Multi-Annual Guidance Programmes (MAGP IV). My honourable friend the Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food reiterated the need for the quota hopper problem to be resolved before he could contemplate any further reductions in the capacity or effort of the UK fleet. Other member states continued to have substantive concerns on various aspects of the proposals, though there was a broad consensus that the Presidency compromise tabled in November remained the most promising basis for progress. The Council concluded that further work should be pursued as a matter of urgency with a view to reaching decisions by 30th April 1997.The Council agreed by qualified majority, with Denmark, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden voting against, a Presidency compromise on the introduction of satellite monitoring arrangements. These will apply from 30th June 1998 for particularly sensitive fisheries, for example industrial fisheries, and from 1st January 2000 for other vessels of over 24 metres overall length. All vessels which operate exclusively within 12 miles of the coast and those which never spend more than 24 hours at sea will be exempt. Where there is a reciprocal access agreement with third countries, satellite monitoring will only apply to Community vessels fishing in those third country waters if the third countries' vessels carry satellite monitoring equipment in Community waters. There was also agreement that concerns about skippers' liability in the event of genuine equipment failures will be addressed in the detailed implementing rules and that the Council and Commission will explore ways of reducing the regulatory burden on the fishing industry, with a Commission report to be submitted by 31st March 1997. The compromise met all the UK's main negotiating objectives and will usefully reinforce existing control measures to ensure compliance with rules intended to conserve fish stocks.The Council welcomed the progress that had been made in removing many of the problems from the Commission's proposal for new technical conservation measures but noted that further detailed work was necessary before the proposal would be ready for agreement. So far as industrial fisheries are concerned, my honourable friend the Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food called for the introduction of a precautionary TAC for sandeels in the North Sea and he proposed that a new research programme into the effects of the sandeel fishery off the east coast of Scotland be used to monitor the effects of the fishery on sandeels and other fauna so that any necessary remedial action can be considered urgently.The Commission introduced its report on the operation of the CFP over the last three years and issues to be addressed for the future. The Council welcomed the report as contributing to the debate leading up to the review of the CFP in 2002.The Council agreed by qualified majority, with Denmark voting against, a 10,000 tonne increase in the 1996 autonomous tariff quota for cod imported for salting and drying.My honourable friend the Under-Secretary of State for Scotland reminded the Council of the problems of the salmon market, including the extended period of low prices, the prospects for continuing weakness in the early months of 1997 and the loss of jobs now being experienced. He pressed the Commissioner to reconsider her earlier decision not to introduce a further set of minimum import prices for salmon. The Commissioner, however, said that she still saw no case for minimum import prices, on the basis that the continental market showed no sign of instability, that minimum import prices had proved effective earlier in 1996 and that she was unwilling to intervene while investigations were proceeding into the industry's complaints about dumping and unfair subsidies.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the outcome of the consultation on further deregulation of the pools industry.

On 16th August last my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Mr. Kirkhope) issued a consultation paper with proposals for further deregulation of the pools industry. The consultation period ended on 31st October.He has carefully considered the views expressed in response to our consultation document and is now in a position to report our conclusions and the way forward.

Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the statement made by Baroness B latch on 2nd December 1996 (H.L. Deb., col. 518), whether they will amend the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 so as to ensure that a caution which is not a criminal conviction is given no less favourable protection than is given to criminal convictions, including absolute discharges, conditional discharges, orders binding over to keep the peace and probation orders and if not, why not.

We have no plans to do so. We do not believe that the non-application of the Act to cautions causes problems in practice.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they intend to reduce their support for the British Refugee Council and five other refugee organisations by nearly 50 per cent; and, if so, when.

No. The level of grant available to support the Refugee Council and other organisations will remain substantially the same in the next financial year as it is in the current one.

asked Her Majesty's Government:In the light of the housing benefit changes proposed for single people under 60, what estimate has been made of the numbers of non self-contained units of accommodation in the private sector in England, Scotland and Wales.

It is estimated that in 1995-96 210,000 privately renting households were in non self-contained accommodation in England and there were in addition 150,000 lodgers. There are also individuals who share houses and flats and this accommodation is generally non self-contained. In England there were an estimated 140,000 tenancies (separate agreements with the landlord) in multi-tenancy households and 450,000 individuals in tenancies consisting of unrelated adults in single tenancy households. These estimates are from the Survey of English Housing.From the Welsh Social Survey there were an estimated 15,000 privately renting households in non self-contained accommodation in Wales in 1992. No information is available for Scotland.

asked Her Majesty's Government:In the light of the housing benefit changes proposed for single people under 60, what estimate has been made of the numbers of units of accommodation in the private rented sector in England, Scotland and Wales where the tenant has exclusive use of one bedroom, does not have the use of any other bedroom or room suitable for living in, shares the use of a toilet, either shares a kitchen or has no use of a kitchen, and where the rent does not include a payment for board and attendance.

From the Survey of English Housing it is estimated that in 1995-96 90,000 privately renting households in England had exclusive use of one bedroom; had no use of any other rooms; shared a toilet; either shared a kitchen or had no use of a kitchen; and did not have meals included in the rent. The comparable figure for Wales, from the 1992 Welsh Social Survey, is 10,000. No information is available for Scotland.It is also estimated that in England a large proportion of some 700,000 lodgers and flat and house sharers in single and multi-tenancy households are likely to have such accommodation.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How, under Article 109J2 of the Treaty of Rome, they intend to judge whether member states "fulfil the necessary conditions for the adoption of a single currency", and to what extent they intend that those "necessary conditions" should reflect the convergence criteria which will have been considered by the Commission in the formulation of its prior report to the Council under Article 109J1.

Article 109j(2) of the EC Treaty requires the Council of Ministers to assess, for each member state, whether it fulfils the necessary conditions for the adoption of the single currency. According to the Treaty, this assessment will be carried out on the basis of reports from the Commission and the EMI under Article 109j(1). These reports will examine the extent of the achievement of a high degree of sustainable convergence by reference to the four convergence criteria, and also taking account of other factors referred to in the final paragraph of Article 109j(1).Whether or not we seek to join, it is in the UK's interests for the single currency to be a success if it goes ahead. The Government will continue to argue that EMU should be based on lasting convergence, and not just on the achievement of the numerical criteria in any given year.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they intend to continue pegging the rate of tax applicable to discretionary and accumulation-and-maintenance trusts at 34 per cent., rather than the previous formula of 10 per cent. above the standard rate of income tax currently prevailing.

My right honourable and learned friend the Chancellor proposed in his Budget that the rate applicable to trusts should remain unchanged at 34 per cent. in 1997-98.He will review the rate for subsequent years in the context of his plans for income tax rates as a whole.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their estimate of the total cost of a journey by a company car from the M.25 to Piccadilly Circus; and how much of that cost is payable by the driver.

The total cost of a journey would depend upon a variety of factors, such as the type of car being driven, the type of fuel used, the road conditions, the distance travelled and how the costs of keeping and maintaining a car are treated. Therefore it is not possible to give estimates of the cost.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What plans he has to improve the town and country planning system.

We are publishing today two consultation papers setting out proposals for changes to existing procedures to make the planning system more efficient and effective. Copies have been placed in the Library. First, we propose to restructure the procedures under which local authorities prepare and adopt district-wide local and unitary development plans including:

• the adoption of more statutory time limits;
• revised consultation and deposit arrangements;
• the replacement of the right for objections to be heard at an inquiry with a right for objections to be considered (initially by written representation);
• replacing the inquiry, in whole or in part, with an Examination in Public process;
• reducing the scope for the authority to ignore the Inspector's recommendations; and
• simplified adoption procedures.