The Government are committed to adhering to both the European prison rules and the United Nations standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners, neither of which is legally binding, as fully as possible. All of the European prison rules are implemented either fully or partially. Where they are implemented partially, this is in accordance with the recommendations contained within the explanatory memorandum to the rules.Six United Nations rules are not fully implemented, either because of budgetary or technical restrictions or because the practice recommended in the rules is considered outmoded. Examples include our practice of not always holding all prisoners in single cell accommodation (Rule 9(1)) and mixing young and adult female prisoners (Rule 8(d) covers the separation of young offenders and adult prisoners).Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer given by Baroness Blatch on 13th January 1997 (

The European prison rules are not legally binding but are adhered to as much as possible. The operating standards set out standards to be met or aspired to, and drew on an extensive range of sources. They are more detailed than the generalised rules and reflect all aspects of them, except prison personnel matters.

Detention under the powers contained in the Immigration Act 1971 is used only as a last resort. Temporary admission is granted wherever possible. Fewer than 1 per cent. of asylum seekers are detained and the decision is reviewed regularly. If there is any indication that asylum is likely to be granted, then the person is released immediately. Detention is unavoidable in a small number of cases if we are to retain an effective immigration control. There are no present plans to hold immigration detainees in a prison ship.Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer given by Baroness Blatch on 20th January 1997 (

Detention under powers contained in the Immigration Act 1971 is used only as a last resort. Temporary admission is granted wherever possible and detention is authorised only where there are good grounds for believing that the person will not comply with the terms of temporary admission.The initial decision to detain is taken by a chief immigration officer and is reviewed within 24 hours by an Immigration Service inspector. Thereafter, all detention is reviewed locally at least every seven days. After one month the case is reviewed at Immigration Service headquarters monthly and at increasingly senior levels. This process involves close consultation with the asylum directorate where an asylum application has been made.All immigration detainees, with certain limited exceptions, may apply to the independent immigration appellate authorities for bail. Detention may also be challenged in the courts.

The employment concession for asylum seekers introduced in 1986 allows those whose applications remain unresolved by the Home Office after six months to seek employment, exceptionally outside the Immigration Rules. There has been no change to the terms of this concession which continues to apply only to principal applicants whether male or female.

My right honourable friends The Secretary of State for Health and the Minister of Agriculture, fisheries and Food are today announcing together with my right honourable friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the Government's intention to appoint an independent, eminent chairman of a newly created Food Safety Council, who will also be an adviser on food safety. The council will advise Ministers on food safety and related matters, take a strategic view of the longer term agenda and identify issues cutting across the work of the existing network of independent expert advisory committees. Its membership will be drawn from a wide range of fields with an interest in the safety of the food supply, including both scientific experts and lay members.The council and food safety adviser will report jointly to my right honourable friends the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Secretary of State for Health and the Secretaries of State for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The proposed terms of reference for the adviser and the council are set out below.Our intention is that the council and the adviser should be free to advise on any matters related to the safety, quality, labelling and authenticity of food and also that they should be available as an authoritative source of advice to the general public. These arrangements will strengthen the existing network of advisory committees but will not detract from the role of the individual expert committees. The food safety adviser will work closely with the chief medical officers.In addition, we are formally appointing the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Kenneth Calman, as adviser to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on public health matters. This formalises arrangements which in practice have applied for many years. These new arrangements help to confirm the importance of public health advice in the area of food policy.

The deadline for submitting IACS applications in 1997 will again be the latest possible date of 15th May. In England and Wales, the IACS explanatory booklets and forms will be issued in March. As in previous years, we have consulted closely with the agricultural industry on the documentation. The separate booklet and form for livestock farmers who have no interest in the arable area payments scheme, introduced last year, will be retained. Farmers will again receive a full printout of their last year's declaration of forage, arable and other land areas, which they must check carefully to ensure that all entries are still correct and on which they must enter any necessary changes, plus a copy of the printout for their retention. The latest date for applying for new field numbers, so that they can be returned in time for farmers to lodge their 1997 IACS applications, will be 1st March. Where changes to field boundaries occur after this date, applications for new field numbers should accompany the IACS application form. We strongly urge farmers to consider now whether they need new field numbers and not to leave applying for new numbers to the last minute.

Following the Prior Options review, the Government has decided that the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) should remain an executive agency of MAFF. The Government have proposed a number of steps to help improve the efficiency of a wide range of research establishments remaining in the public sector. For the VLA, we shall be setting targets for increasing competition, enlarging the programme of market testing of non-R&D work, and looking at the scope for exchange of areas of work with the Institute for Animal Health. Details will be announced in due course.My right honourable friend the President of the Board of Trade answered a parliamentary question yesterday on the broad outcome of the programme of Prior Options reviews of public sector research establishments, which referred to the general policy on the timing of Prior Options reviews.

Following the Prior Options review of Horticulture Research International (HRI), the Government have decided that the organisation should remain in the public sector, for the present, as an executive non-departmental public body (NDPB) sponsored by MAFF. HRI has achieved a great deal since its creation in 1990, and its high reputation is well deserved. Nevertheless, the Government will strive to secure further improvements where possible for the benefit of both HRI and the horticulture industry. Our substantial restructuring investment in the body provides an excellent foundation. The Government have also decided on a number of steps to help improve the efficiency of a wide range of research establishments remaining in the public sector. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will be working closely with HRI management over the coming year to resolve outstanding operational and staffing matters, and to develop the body's science strategy and business plan. This will provide the basis of a report to Ministers at the end of 1997. My right honourable friend the President of the Board of Trade answered a parliamentary question yesterday on the broad outcome of the programme of Prior Options reviews of public sector research establishments, which referred to the general policy on the timing of future Prior Options reviews.

A review of the trust functions of the Public Trustee has been carried out by a committee which included representatives from the Public Trust Office, the Official Solicitor's Office, the Treasury Solicitor's Office, the Treasury and the Law Commission The committee examined a number of options and concluded that there was a continuing need for a trustee service provided by the public sector and that the balance of advantage for trust beneficiaries and for the Exchequer lay in maintaining the present arrangements. The committee's report recommended that some aspects of current trust law should be reviewed with the aim of making it easier for people to administer trusts and also that the Public Trustee should review the literature describing the trustee service to make it more informative. I have accepted the committee's report and conclusions. The Law Commission will be reviewing aspects of trust law in due course as part of its sixth programme of law reform and the Public Trustee has already undertaken a review of her literature. Copies of the committee's report will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

In the course of the current financial year the House of Lords has used consultants in connection with the following:

• Computerisation of Lords attendance records (£30,198);
• Central Computing and Telecommunications Agency services (£4,018);
• House of Lords teletext project (£11,426);
• Refreshment Department shop sales computerisation (£9,317).

No, Information on general motoring costs is drawn from the Office for National Statistics' Retail Prices Index. Information on household expenditure on motoring is taken from the Office for National Statistics' Family Expenditure Survey.

This programme of reviews has now been completed. The final reports were submitted, as planned, at the end of December 1996. The Government are today announcing decisions on all the outstanding reviews.My honourable friend the Minister for Science and Technology is today making announcements on a number of establishments for which my department has responsibility, as follows:

My right honourable friend the President of the Board of Trade announced on 22nd May that the Government were satisfied that the functions of four BBSRC establishments—Institute of Arable Crops Research, Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, John Innes Centre, and Silsoe Research Institute—were needed, that they should retain their separate existence, but that full independence from the public sector was a desirable option which merited further consideration. In the light of this further consideration, we have concluded that these establishments should remain in the public sector and retain their separate existence. Similarly, we have concluded that the three BBSRC animal science institutes included in the second tranche of prior options reviews, completed at the end of July—Babraham Institute, Institute for Animal Health and the Roslin Institute—and BBSRC's Institute of Food Research, which was included in the third tranche of reviews completed at the end of December, should remain in the public sector and retain their separate existence.I shall expect the BBSRC, under the oversight of the Director General of Research Councils (DGRC), to continue to look for ways of improving the establishments' value for money. Specifically, we shall explore the scope for improving control of central costs and for contracting out support services. We shall also consider targets for increased external income. In the case of the Institute of Food Research, we will be exploring further the potential benefits of greater collaboration between IFR and the research component of the Central Science Laboratory at Norwich and, in the case of the Institute for Animal Health, exchanging areas of work with the Veterinary Laboratories Agency.We are also satisfied that the functions of the three NERC establishments—the British Geological Survey, Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences and Centre for Ecology and Hydrology—covered by the second tranche of prior options reviews, are needed. We have concluded that they should remain in the public sector and retain their separate identities. I shall expect NERC, under the oversight of the DGRC, to pursue the opportunities for rationalisation and restructuring identified by the reviews. I shall also look to NERC to build on its arm's length relationship with the establishments and to improve their financial and management systems.The MRC's Dunn Nutrition Unit (DNU), which was covered by the third tranche of reviews, should be closed and reconstituted to take advantage of the scope for rationalisation with other MRC and university activities, which will open up when the reconstituted unit moves to a new site in 1998.We are satisfied that the functions of the MRC's Institute of Virology, Reproductive Biology Unit, Mammalian Genetics Unit, Radiation and Genome Stability Unit and Toxicology Unit are needed and that there is scope for some rationalisation and introduction of private sector management. We have concluded that:

The UK and Hong Kong's 14th reports in respect of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, together with a combined 13th and 14th report in respect of the Crown Dependencies and other Dependent Territories was submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in November 1996.The reports will be placed in both Libraries.

Yes. The report has been located in the Council of Europe archive and the FCO has requested a copy.

The review of legislation has not yet been concluded. In the Cayman Islands the Select Committee's final report, in November 1996, concluded that "there should be an opportunity for the public to make representation to a select committee and for full public debate on the matter and, if necessary, a referendum". The new government will now have to consider this. The British Virgin Islands legislature has agreed that a Bill of Rights should be included in the constitution. Once the text is agreed a review of existing legislation will begin, to ensure that it conforms with the new Bill of Rights.

We have no evidence, nor reason to believe, that arms sold by the UK to Turkey are, or have been, deployed in northern Cyprus. We are committed to a responsible policy of defence sales and consider all applications for the export of defence equipment on a case by case basis in the light of established criteria, including the OSCE's principles governing conventional arms transfers. We do not permit the export of equipment which is likely to contravene these principles or the other international guidelines to which we adhere.

The S-300 is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system that is primarily designed to fulfil an air defence role. As with any SAM, however, there might be circumstances in which the S-300 could be used in an offensive capacity. We have made clear to the government of Cyprus that we regret their decision to buy this system.

The United Kingdom currently applies the following arms embargoes:

Of the three routes used by Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd. (PNTL) in transporting nuclear materials, none involve sailing through South-East Asian waters. Like all merchant vessels at sea, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Pacific Teal has the right of innocent passage and freedom of navigation through both territorial waters and exclusive economic zones. Governments of countries on the ship's routes, and others that have inquired, were informed about the extensive safety measures taken in respect of such shipments.

It is not for the Government to comment on the treaty arrangements between the United States and Cuba governing the Guantanamo Naval Base. We understand that the United States occupies the base at Guantanamo Bay under a lease of indefinite duration which was granted under an agreement of 1903 between the government of the United States and Cuba, as amended and reaffirmed in the Reciprocity Treaty of 1934.

The interdepartmental committee report on trafficking in arms noted a particular issue had arisen as to whether or not the existing Rwanda Orders in Council can be read as prohibiting the supply or delivery of arms to neighbouring countries for use in Rwanda, as the UN Security Council Resolutions require. This is the subject of detailed and urgent consultation between government departments. It is the Government's intention to make amending orders. These are currently in preparation.

No. Following my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary's speech on 4th November in Abu Dhabi, which raised the idea of an organisation for co-operation in the Middle East, a number of countries both in the region and outside it have voiced their support in principle. Israel is one.

The Government do not consider that a new Select Committee as proposed by the noble Lord is necessary.

We value the work of the Commonwealth Institute and recognise the efforts it has made to modernise its operations, increase revenue and seek private sector investment. We are pleased to confirm that we have decided to give the Institute a grant-in-aid of £800,000 for the financial year 1997/98; and £600,000 for the year 1998/99. The question of funding beyond 1999 will be subject to normal public expenditure constraints and procedures. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office will continue to support the Institute's attempts to obtain further private sector investment.