asked Her Majesty's Government:What percentage of the land in East Jerusalem was held by (a) Palestinians and (b) the Israeli Government in each of 1967 and 1997.

About 14 per cent. of land in East Jerusalem is currently held by or designated for Palestinians. About 40 per cent. has been expropriated by the Israeli authorities for settlements and roads. About 40 per cent. has been designated as Green Areas by the Israelis, in which development is currently prohibited. About six per cent. is unzoned. These are 1995 figures, extracted from statistics published by Jerusalem Municipality. The Israeli authorities expanded the municipal boundaries of East Jerusalem substantially after the 1967 occupation. No landholding statistics are held for 1967 but most of the land now in East Jerusalem was held by Palestinians or Jordanians at that time.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they agree with the French Government that it is desirable that NATO Southern Command should sometimes be separated from command of the US Sixth Fleet and be held by a European, or with the United States Government that it is imperative that NATO Southern Command should always be held by an American, and what are their reasons.

I refer the noble Lord to the Answer given by my noble friend Lord Howe on 11 February (col. WA 17).

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether NATO's relations with countries of the Mediterranean and Middle East are affected by the United States support of, and collaboration with, Israel's military activities.

The NATO Governments' policy is to pursue a dialogue with Mediterranean countries on military and security matters. This dialogue includes Israel as well as Mauritania, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel and Jordan.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the purpose of the recent tour of the Commonwealth of Independent States countries by the Secretary General of NATO, and whether the "pro-NATO" political association newly established in Azerbaijan is funded by NATO or by the United States.

Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan participate in Partnership for Peace. The NATO Secretary General visited these countries, at their invitation, in the periods 10–14 February and 10–14 March. NATO does not fund the Azerbaijan-Atlantic Co-operation Association. We have no other information on the organisation's finances.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Which forces participated in the recent Partnership for Peace exercise off the coast of the Crimea, and what political control there is over Partnership for Peace exercises and scenarios.

No Partnership for Peace exercises have taken place off the coast of Crimea.Political control over the Partnership Programme is exercised within NATO by the North Atlantic Council and the relevant NATO working groups.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are (a) NATO's and (b) the United States' current roles in Albania, and whether Albanian armed forces have been trained and exercised under Partnership for Peace auspices.

NATO is intensively monitoring the situation in Albania and has urged the parties to cease acts of violence and establish dialogue. The United States has full diplomatic relations with Albania. Albania signed the Partnership for Peace Framework document in February 1994 and since then has participated in various Partnership for Peace activities including multilateral and bilateral exercises.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether Dena Import-Export Ltd., Reg. No.03041326, and Dena International Trading Ltd., Reg. No.03288410, of Great Cambridge Road, 2 Progress Way, Enfield EN1 and registered address 8–10 Stamford Hill, London N16, went into liquidation in January 1997, and, if so, why; and whether any allegations of, or investigations into, possible malpractice have been made.

Dena Import-Export Ltd. went into creditors' voluntary liquidation on 19 December 1996 but it is not apparent that the company Dena International Trading Ltd. is the subject of any formal insolvency proceedings.The liquidator of Dena Import-Export is Michael Herbert Hinton of C. Jacobs & Co., 66 Churchway, London NW1 1LT, whose enquiries into the affairs of the company are continuing. Under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, Mr. Hinton will have a duty to submit a report on the conduct of the directors to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will report on the future provision of marine aids to navigation by the General Lighthouse Authorities.

The General Lighthouse Authorities (GLAs) carried out a consultation exercise during 1996 to determine user views on the future provision of marine aids to navigation. The major proposals, which were supported by respondents, were that the UK should provide a Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS), adopt the Loran C System as provided by the North West Europe Loran C System (NELS) agreement and discontinue the Decca Navigator system and the radiobeacon service as soon as was reasonable. The GLAs proposed to maintain traditional aids to navigation, subject to regular reviews.We welcome the GLAs' proposals and accept the need to establish a civil marine navigation plan as a sound basis for planning the future provision of aids to navigation into the next century.We support the broad thrust of the proposals, which are in line with developments in the international maritime community and will assist the transition to a civil Global Navigation Satellite System. The balance of opinion following the consultation exercise supports the provision by the GLAs of DGPS for marine users based on the Global Positioning System (GPS) at a relatively small cost to the General Lighthouse Fund (GLF). The system offers improved navigational accuracy whilst maintaining the system integrity of GPS, as well as the prospective benefits of providing future interface with electronic charting, integrated bridge systems, vessel traffic services and transponder systems.The UK is interested in adopting the NELS system to replace the Decca Navigator System as the terrestrial back-up to GPS. We cannot commit the UK to NELS until its future has been placed beyond doubt. In the meantime users should be aware that the GLAs are unlikely to operate the Decca Navigator System beyond the year 2000.The GLAs' proposals can be implemented within the income provided by the reduced level of light dues that we announced on March 6. They will save an estimated £32 million over the next 20 years while offering the prospect of improved accuracy to the navigator. Further reductions in user costs after the year 2000 are expected from the GLAs' ongoing reviews of traditional aids to navigation, which will be carried out in consultation with users.

asked Her Majesty's Government:If a copy of the Highways Agency report on its reviews of the crossing of the River Avon south of Salisbury by the proposed Salisbury bypass will be placed in the Library.

Copies of the Highways Agency review report, which is in three volumes, have been placed in the Library. The report identified two possible alternative routes to the published route for the bypass which would avoid land having to be taken from the newly designated East Harnham Meadows site of special scientific interest in the Avon Valley. In accordance with undertakings given when my right honourable friends the Secretaries of State for Transport and the Environment announced their views on the proposed bypass last October, we will shortly be affording interested parties an opportunity to comment on the agency's report.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they intend to publish the Marine Accident Investigation Report into the sinking of the "Pescado", a Plymouth registered scalloper, which sank off the Cornish coast in 1991.

The report will be published as soon as possible after it is received by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why their proposal that there should be a precautionary Total Allowable Catch for sandeels in 1997, which fisheries scientists are satisfied is a practicable proposition (government response to the Report by the Select Committee on Science and Technology on Fish Stock Conservation and Management, paragraph 34), was rejected by the Commission and all other member states, and whether they intend to press the Fisheries Council to reconsider its decision.

Proposals for TACs and quotas for 1997 were made to the Council last autumn by the European Commission, in the light of the scientific advice prepared by the ICES Advisory Committee on Fishery Management. Although ACFM advised that a precautionary TAC of 1.1 million tonnes could be envisaged for sandeels in the North Sea, the Commission did not make a corresponding proposal.In the course of the subsequent negotiations the UK argued that a precautionary TAC of 850,000 tonnes would be appropriate, reflecting the average level of catches in recent years. However, there was no support from other delegations for an amendment to the Commission's proposals to do this.The Commission indicated that it did not believe it appropriate to introduce such a measure in the absence of evidence of detrimental effects of sandeel fishing on human consumption fish species. However, with this in mind and at the UK's behest, the Commission is part funding a three-year international research project (ending in 1999) involving the Sea Mammal Research Unit and others, centred on the industrial fishery off the east coast of Scotland.We have asked the researchers to inform the Commission through ICES of any interim reports which highlight potential problems, so appropriate action can be taken as soon as possible.The Statement of Conclusions arising from the Intermediate Ministerial Meeting on the Integration of Fisheries and Environmental Issues, held in Bergen, Norway, on 13–14 March, will now provide an additional impetus for action.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will update, in respect of the first 11 weeks of 1997, the figures for the number of reported and confirmed cases of BSE as set out in their written Answer of 23 January 1997 (H.L. Deb.,

The following table shows the number of cases confirmed during the first 11 weeks of 1997 with a moving annual total of cases reported.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the results of the second survey of variable pesticides residues are now available.

The results of the second survey of variable pesticide residues were announced on 14 March. A copy of the announcement and of the supporting documents have been placed in the Library of the House.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they expect the latest volume of

Agriculture in the United Kingdom 1996 was published today and copies have been placed in the Library of the House.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the answers given by Baroness Cumberlege to Earl Russell and to Lord Pearson of Rannoch (H.L. Deb., 25 February 1997, cols. 1038 and 1039), what items account for the difference between "full" and "reasonable" reimbursement of local authority expenditure on asylum seekers, and why reimbursement is to be withheld for those items.

The grant is based on a unit cost.Local authorities may claim for any expenditure lawfully incurred in accommodating adult asylum seekers under Section 21 of the National Assistance Act 1948. They will be reimbursed for that claim in full provided it does not, on an average weekly cost basis, exceed the unit cost figure of £165 per week per person (plus a discretionary addition for infrastructure costs) which the Government believe to be a reasonable level of expenditure.

asked the Chairman of Committees:Whether he will make representations with a view to ensuring that the medal collection on display in the medal corridor of the House of Commons is updated by the addition of the Falkland and Gulf War medals.

While the House of Commons medal collection is a matter for the House of Commons Administration Committee and the collection is not intended to be comprehensive, the South Atlantic medal, which was awarded for the Falkland war, is included in the display. I understand that a request for a specimen of the Gulf medal 1990–91 will be made to the Army Medal Office by the Authorities of the House of Commons.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What will be the Environment Agency Charging Schemes for 1997–98 for regulating industry under Integrated Pollution Control and under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993.

The Environment Act 1995 requires the Environment Agency to make charging schemes to recover the cost of carrying out its regulatory functions.With the consent of the Treasury and, for the charging scheme for regulation under the Radioactive Substances Act, with the consent of my right honourable friend the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and, following consultation with those who are likely to be affected by the schemes, the Environment Agency has now made charging schemes for 1997–98 for regulating industry under Integrated Pollution Control and under the Radioactive Substances Act. The schemes will take effect from 1 April 1997. I have placed copies of them in the Library.The subsistence charge for Integrated Pollution Control has been set at £1,755 in order to effect full cost recovery. This is a reduction of £50 on the charge in 1996–97. There are some minor changes to the charging schemes. Copies of the schemes will be sent to the relevant operators and to other interested bodies shortly.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What performance targets have been set for the Ordnance Survey Executive Agency in the year 1997–98.

The following performance targets have been set for Ordnance Survey in 1997–98:1. To recover at least 86 per cent. of the costs incurred by the Agency, representing an increase of 3 per cent.2. To ensure that, by 31 March 1998, 97 per cent. of existing major detail is surveyed and available to customers in the National Topographic Database at any one time—an increase of 1 per cent. over 1996–97. The target will increase to 99 per cent. by the year 2002.3. In order to provide a quality service to customers, to despatch products in response to orders as follows:95 per cent. of all Land-Line digital map units within five working days—reduced from six days; and92 per cent. of small scale products within five working days—an increase of 2 per cent.4. To increase by 3 per cent. the annual revenue earned per number of staff employed.These targets are closely associated with the main Corporate Aims of Ordnance Survey and demonstrate the agency's continuing commitment to customers and to improved value for money for all its stakeholders. These more stringent targets represent significant improvements and will deliver an increasing level of services.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What plans they have following their recent consultation exercise on local authorities' powers to provide community alarm systems.

Having carefully considered the more than 100 responses received to our consultation, we have concluded that local authorities should be empowered to provide community alarms to anyone who is resident in their area, and that they should be able to charge for such services. Community alarms can help the elderly to continue to live in their own homes, disabled people to lead independent lives, and can also be useful in tackling crimes such as repeat burglary, domestic violence or racial harassment. We intend to bring forward legislation at the next convenient opportunity.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether money made available to a student facing financial hardship, and taken from access funds administered by the student's college, is exempt from assessment by the Child Support Agency for purposes of child maintenance.

One-off payments from access funds are ignored in the assessment of child support maintenance. Regular payments would be taken into account, but absent parents who are students are generally assessed to pay only small amounts of maintenance or nothing at all.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will give, on a constant price basis using the price index of gross domestic product at market prices (using the October to December quarter for 1996) the net tax paid by, or repaid to, underwriting members of Lloyd's during each of the 14 tax years 1982–1983 to 1995–96 and during the first 11 months of the tax year 1996–97.

The following table shows, on the constant price basis requested, (a) the total tax charged on individuals as initial assessments, including estimated assessments, made during each tax year for underwriting profits and gains and (b) the total of income tax and capital gains tax repaid to individual Lloyd's underwriters by the underwriters unit of Inland Revenue in each tax year, including any repayment supplement attracted by the tax refunded. The level of repayments in the last few years (1991–92 onwards) reflects insurance losses incurred at Lloyd's. The tax repaid was originally paid by the underwriters in earlier years on income and gains from either Lloyd's or non-Lloyd's underwriters in earlier years on income and gains from either Lloyd's or non-Lloyd's sources.