asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they intend to allow United States forces in the United Kingdom or in United Kingdom dependencies to deploy ballistic missile defences intended to protect US forces while not protecting the adjacent civil population or property, and, if so, how control would be exercised.

We are not aware of any intention by the United States to deploy ballistic missile defence in the United Kingdom or in the United Kingdom's dependent territories.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they still expect to start converting the stretch of the A.90, formerly the A.92, between Balmedie and Tipperty in Aberdeenshire to dual carriageway between April 1997 and March 1999.

No. Consideration of the scope for resolution of objections to the draft road orders for the scheme will, however, continue.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What plans they have for the future of the Defence Estate Organisation.

The Defence Estate Organisation will launch as a defence agency of the Ministry of Defence on 18 March 1997. The Agency will be responsible for assisting MoD in managing the optimum estate of land, buildings and installations to meet the operating needs of the department. While the management of the estate will remain the responsibility of the occupying MoD budget holder, the DEO plays a vital role in: supporting budget holders estate staff; improving MoD's stewardship of the estate; ensuring MoD receives best value for money for estate services, property management and new works procurement; acting as MoD's centre of estate expertise; and maintaining a strategic overview of the defence estate.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the current requirement for Army training land in the United Kingdom and what arrangements there are for the sterwardship of such land.

We have today published a document Striking a Balance '97, the second report on the management of the major Army training areas, following the original Striking a Balance, published in October 1995. The new document describes the work going on in a number of areas to ensure that the land on which the Army trains is managed with as much sensitivity as possible to the requirements of local people. The document also reports on the work we have done to analyse the Army's requirement for training land in the United Kingdom. This work shows that, following the return to this country of many units from Germany, and the introduction of new systems, the Army has a significant shortfall in training land in the UK. The report also shows a number of ways in which this shortfall can be reduced including by development of existing facilities and, in particular, the proposed development of Otterburn.A copy of

asked Her Majesty's Government:What plans they have for the use of the RAF's reserve personnel.

I am delighted to announce that three new Royal Auxiliary Air Force squadrons are to be formed. An Air Transportable Surgical Squadron will form at Royal Air Force Leuchars on 1 April 1997, with an establishment of 71 reservist personnel. Two training and standardisation squadrons are also to be formed. The first at Royal Air Force Halton also on 1 April 1997 with an establishment of 21 personnel and the second at Royal Air Force Shawbury on 1 June 1997 with an establishment of nine. In addition, the establishment of No 4624 (County of Oxford) Movements Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force based at Royal Air Force Brize Norton will increase by 69 posts from 1 April 1997. From the same date, the establishment of the Inspectorate Royal Auxiliary Air Force also at Royal Air Force Brize Norton will increase from two posts to four. The new role support squadron concept, which my honourable friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces announced last year with the formation of the Helicopter Support Squadron, is developing in an encouraging way.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What instructions have been given by the Head of the Civil Service to the service about its professional relationship with Ministers until 1 May 1997.

Guidance on the conduct of government business once an election is announced was issued to Departments on 17 March. Copies have been placed in the Library of the House.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What targets Remploy has been set in its 1997–98 annual performance agreement.

I have written to the chairman of Remploy approving the 1997–98 annual performance agreement between the department and the company. This agreement covers the year from 1 April 1997. It has been negotiated by the chief executive of the Employment Service on behalf of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. The targets are:—the average number of disabled people employed by Remploy Ltd. will be at least 9,800;—the average number of disabled people employed under the Interwork scheme will be at least 3,000;—at least 200 disabled employees will move from Remploy factories to Interwork, having been employed there for at least one year, or from Interwork or factories to open employment;—Remploy Ltd. will keep within a total unit cost target (operating deficit per disabled worker) of £10,000;—the unit cost of Interwork should be no more than £4,400;—Remploy Ltd. will keep within an operating deficit of £99 million (including reorganisation costs).The text of the annual performance agreement has been placed in the Library.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their estimate of the total number of bridge and highway authorities which abnormal load operators may be obliged to notify under the Authorisation of Special Types General Order as at (a) 1 March 1987 and (b) 1 March 1997.

Abnormal load operators are obliged to notify bridge and highways authorities when the weight of their vehicles and load exceeds those permitted for conventional vehicles by the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations.The total number of authorities for England, Wales and Scotland are set out in the table below.

Roads Authorities		Rail and Canal Bridge Authorities
1 March 1987	1 March 1997	1 March 1987	1 March 1997
137	184	6	9

The table shows the total of trunk road, motorway and local road authorities.Rail and canal bridge authorities includes Railtrack and Babtie (representing British Rail Property Board's disused rail lines) for the railway network and British Waterways Board (BWB).These figures do not include certain bridges which are not the direct responsibility of a highway authority such as the Dartford Crossing (QE2 Bridge), Severn Bridge(s), Humber Bridge and Haven Bridge (Gt. Yarmouth) and London Underground and Mersey Tunnels.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Bearing in mind both their obligation to protect porpoises under the agreement for small cetaceans in the North and Baltic seas and the United Kingdom's biodiversity action plan and the present large kill of that species in European fishing nets, what are their specific practical plans to protect the species.

The intentional killing, capture or injury of all cetaceans is prohibited by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.The impact of fishing nets on harbour porpoise populations and their demographics around British shores has yet to be fully verified. The United Kingdom is currently participating in an EU sponsored multinational project which is investigating the way in which the risk of all marine mammal by-catch varies with gear type, environmental factors and season. It is hoped that the project will develop a framework for assessing the relative costs and benefits of gear modifications and area closures for reducing by-catch.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many applications for licences for the abstraction of water from boreholes and rivers respectively have been rejected since 1 April 1996, and how many existing licences have been withdrawn or modified during the same period.

The Environment Agency has provided the following information covering the period since 1 April 1996 in respect of England and Wales:

	Surface water	Groundwater
Abstraction licence applications rejected:	24	12
Abstraction licences withdrawn: (includes expired, revoked and voluntarily withdrawn licences)	458	363
Abstraction licences modified: (includes licences where succession rights were exercised)	609	694

The number of rejections is small because applicants are advised of likely rejection prior to formal application. Applicants may then decide not to proceed to avoid incurring advertising and application expenses.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Which are the 20 largest electricity generating stations and which are the 20 largest commercial wind farms in the United Kingdom, indicating for each the type of fuel, the output of electricity, the location and the total acreage of land occupied.

Available information on all power stations in the United Kingdom over 1 MW is published in the Energy Report 1996. Appendix 2 gives basic details of the company name, the station name, the fuel, the capacity and the year of commissioning, and the department is currently in the process of updating it. Detail of acreage occupied by power stations is not available.

asked Her Majesty's Government:With regard to the European Community's anti-dumping duties imposed by Commission Decisions 67/94/ECSC and 1751/94/ECSC on imports of pig iron from Brazil, Poland, Russia and the Ukraine, (a) whether they have carried out any studies as to the cost of these measures to United Kingdom iron foundries and manufacturing industry, and, if not, whether they will do so; (b) whether they support the measures, and, if so, why; and (c) if not, what measures, if any, they propose to take to have these decisions withdrawn.

On 10 April 1996, the European Commission initiated a review of the anti-dumping duties imposed by Commission Decisions 67/94/ECSC and 1751/94/ECSC (and also 55/96/ECSC covering the Czech Republic). The review will assess the state of the EU pig iron market and the impact on it of the duties, as the basis for a decision on whether or not they should be prolonged. When consulted about the original imposition of the duties, a majority of member states—including the UK—opposed them because the Commission had failed to take account of user interests. However, under the ECSC treaty, the Commission has sole competence to impose or prolong anti-dumping measures on ECSC products.

asked Her Majesty's Government:With regard to the European Community's provisional anti-dumping duties imposed under Commission Regulation 2208/96 on imports of grey cotton fabrics from China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Turkey, (a) whether they have carried out any studies as to the regulation's likely impact on employment in the United Kingdom textile industry, and if not whether they will do so, (b) whether they support the measures, and if so why, and (c), if not, what measures, if any, they propose to take to have the regulations withdrawn.

When Sir Leon Brittan announced the imposition of the current, provisional anti-dumping duties on cotton greycloth on 21 November 1996, he committed the Commission to carrying out a full assessment of their likely effects on users of the product in the EU textile finishing industry. The results of the assessment have only recently been put to member states as the basis for a decision on whether the duties should be made definitive. That decision will be taken by a simple majority vote of member states. The Government will vote against any proposal for definitive duties and will encourage others to do so as well.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will list by region those National Health Service trusts which have reported shortages of (a) psychiatrists, (b) psychiatric hospital nurses and (c) community mental nurses; and what central initiative they propose to improve recruitment and retention of these professionals.

The information is not available centrally. We accept the view of the 1997 review body for nursing that, while there is at present no general shortage of nursing staff, healthcare employers need strategies to improve recruitment and retention. Planning guidance issued by the National Health Service Executive in June 1996 recognised the need for employers to improve their recruitment and retention through the spread of good employment practices such as flexible working arrangements, return to practice courses and continuing professional development. A £32 million package of measures was announced on 29 January 1997 to enhance existing policies concerned with recruitment and retention and to encourage the return of trained nurses back to the health service.In addition, the Government accepted the specialist workforce advisory group's recommendation to increase the number of higher specialist trainees in 1997–98 by a total of 850; £4.5 million will fund a minimum of 250 new training placements in the priority specialties which include psychiatry (mental illness), forensic psychiatry and psychotherapy. We are also working closely with the Royal College of Psychiatrists to take forward a range of initiatives to improve the recruitment and retention of psychiatrists. We shall be publishing shortly the report of a joint working party and the proceedings of a conference between the NHS Executive and the Royal College, held in November 1996, where my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health outlined a series of plans to increase the numbers of psychiatrists.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What categories of users are permitted to park cars in (a) Horse Guards Parade; and (b) beside the Mall, who is responsible for allocating parking permits, and whether there are any plans to alter such arrangements.

Responsibility for the subject of this question has been delegated to the Royal Parks Agency under its Chief Executive, Mr. David Welch. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What plans they have to replace the current application forms for foreign nationals wishing to apply for leave to remain in the United Kingdom.

The current application forms expire on 14 April 1997. Revised versions of the six existing forms have been prescribed together with a new form for those applying for an extension of stay or indefinite leave to remain following the refusal of asylum. These will be valid until 14 April 1998. From today until 14 April 1997 applications may be made on either the newly prescribed forms or the existing versions. Only the newly prescribed versions may be used for applications made on or after 15 April 1997. The new forms will be available shortly from the Application Forms Unit (0181 760 2233) and copies have been placed in the Library.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many asylum seekers in detention have been (a) charged with a criminal offence; and (b) convicted of a criminal offence, during the most recent period for which figures are available.

As at 31 January 1997¹, the latest date for which information is available, 324 persons who had sought asylum were detained in Prison Service establishments solely under Immigration Act powers. In addition to these, a further 120 asylum seekers were detained in prisons under powers other than, or in conjunction with, those contained in the Immigration Act 1971. Information on the number of these persons who are being held on criminal charges, as opposed to those serving a court imposed sentence, is only available at disproportionate cost.

¹ In-country cases are as at 31 January and Port cases are as at 3 February 1997.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many asylum seekers in detention have (a) applied for bail; and (b) been granted bail, for any recent period for which figures are available.

Comprehensive information regarding bail applications can only be obtained by examination of individual case records. The information requested is, therefore, only available at disproportionate cost.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have any plans to expand the present medical facilities, including the number of referrals, for asylum seekers detained at Campsfield House, Oxford; andWhether they are satisfied with the current arrangements to sub-contract medical services at Campsfield House from Group 4 to other service providers; andWhether they have any monitoring programme at the Home Office to assess the quality of medical services at Campsfield House and the number of referrals per detainee; and, if so, what have been the results of this assessment.

With advice from the Director of Public Health in the Oxfordshire Health Authority, a revised specification for provision of medical services at Campsfield House has been prepared, and these new arrangements took effect on 1 March.The health services at Campsfield House are comparable with those provided for Oxfordshire residents, taking into account the specific circumstances of detainees. Detainees are referred to specialists as and when required on medical grounds. The decision to refer detainees on is taken by the doctor treating them. Standards for all services provided at Campsfield House are closely monitored.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What plans they have to implement the recommendations in the Law Commission Report

The Government have given careful consideration to the report which makes recommendations falling under two quite separate heads. The Government have accepted the Law Commission's recommendations for general legislation on the restitution of benefits conferred under a mistake of law and will introduce legislation implementing those recommendations when a suitable opportunity arises. The further recommendations relating to ultra vires receipts by public authorities raise other issues, which we are now considering.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What programme of computerisation in the High Court of Justice and in the county courts will be necessary to implement the proposals made by Lord Woolf in his final report on access to justice; and what is the target timetable for putting this programme into effect.

The question concerns a matter which has been assigned to the Court Service under the terms of its framework document. I have therefore asked the Chief Executive to respond.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will publish statistics for each of the divisions of the High Court of Justice and for the county courts indicating the number of (a) legal proceedings commenced; (b) proceedings in which a defence is entered; (c) proceedings set down for trial; and (d) proceedings disposed of by trial.

The Question concerns a matter which has been assigned to the Court Service under the terms of its framework document. I have therefore asked the Chief Executive to respond.