asked Her Majesty's Government:How the United Kingdom's current aid spending compares with the United Nations target.

Provisional figures for 1996 show that the UK's performance against the UN 0.7 per cent. official development assistance/GNP target was 0.27 per cent. This compares to a level of 0.51 per cent. in 1979. We are firmly committed to reversing the decline against the UN target. However, as promised during the election, we will work within existing departmental resource allocations for the next two years.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether there are any circumstances under which they can envisage giving up Britain's permanent seat on the Security Council of the United Nations.

No. Her Majesty's Government are committed to retaining Britain's permanent seat on the Security Council.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What plans they have for a Task Force on Youth Justice.

The role of the Task Force on Youth Justice is to advise Home Office Ministers on government proposals for the development of youth justice policies and, in particular, to provide advice on taking forward an action plan as agreed by the interdepartmental ministerial group on Youth Justice.The Task Force may provide advice to the Home Secretary on policy papers prepared by government officials for consideration by the ministerial group and may propose to the Home Secretary action on any other youth justice issue.The members of the task force are:Norman Warner

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will continue to apply the provisions announced in 1985 for ex-gratia payment of compensation for wrongful conviction or charge.

My right honourable friend the Home Secretary can confirm that he will continue to be bound by the provisions for ex-gratia payment of compensation as set out in the statement of the then Home Secretary, the right honourable Douglas Hurd, to the House of Commons on 29 November 1985, Official Report, cols. 691–692. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has also agreed to continue to apply these provisions.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they agree that, as a general principle, participants in games of chance that are widely advertised to the public should be made aware by the promoter of either the average return to participants (the total distributed as prize money divided by the total money wagered), or the chance of winning a specified prize, or both.

Yes. This is a statutory requirement for the larger lotteries, and I agree that smaller lotteries should follow the same principle.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they share the view of the common agricultural policy expressed on behalf of the previous government by Earl Ferrers on 21 November 1995 (H.L. Deb., col. 259) that it "is, at present, too costly, too inefficient and too wasteful. It can disadvantage the consumer and the food industry and it often provides incentives for production without paying proper regard to environmental considerations".

It is generally accepted that the CAP displays the characteristics referred to in the question. That is why the Government have made reform of the CAP a major plank of their European policy. We will be pursuing this vigorously with our European partners.

asked Her Majesty's Government:On how many occasions between 9 April 1992 and 2 May 1997 facilities were provided at Number 10 Downing Street for charitable and other non-political good causes.

I cannot answer for the previous administration's use of Number 10 for charitable and other non-political good causes.However, Ministers under this and previous administrations have been allowed—at their own or party expense—to host non-official or party receptions in Downing Street. All catering, staff and other direct costs must be met by the organisers of the event. Appropriate arrangements are required for security clearance.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have a specific target rate of unemployment for the United Kingdom according to the International Labour Organisation definitions.

No. The Government's aim is a high and stable level of employment, to be achieved by running a successful, low-inflation economy, with macro-economic stability as a platform for sustainable growth, and, by enhancing skills and improving the operation of the labour market, to open up job opportunities to all groups in society.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are their best estimates of the average annual cost of schooling for an individual student taking three A-levels at (a) an English state secondary school and (b) an English state sixth form college; andWhat is the average amount paid to (a) council-run secondary schools, (b) grant maintained schools, (c) sixth form colleges by the relevant funding bodies in respect of a student taking three A-levels.

In The Public Funding Costs of Education and Training for 16–19 year olds in England 1995–96 the department published estimates of the average cost of achieving three GCE A-levels, which is higher than the average cost of taking three GCE A-levels, since not everyone succeeds. These are:

asked Her Majesty's Government:What measures they will use to judge whether they have kept the promise in the Labour Party manifesto that they "will improve teacher training".

We shall be setting out in our forthcoming White Paper proposals to improve the preparation of new teachers and training for serving teachers and the standards by which the profession will be measured.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will restate their commitment to the Labour Party manifesto target that "within a decade every child leaves primary school with a reading age of at least 11".

Yes. The Government announced on 13 May new targets for literacy, namely that by 2002, 80 per cent. of all 11 year-olds should reach the appropriate reading standard for their age; and that by 2006 practically every 11 year-old should reach this level.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether their statement that "there will be no significant additional burden on local education authorities from educating children who would otherwise have entered the assisted places schemes each year" implies that LEAs and schools will receive no significant additional funding in respect of such pupils.

By how much pupil numbers in maintained schools will increase as a result of phasing out the assisted places scheme is not yet clear. But, with over 800,000 empty places within existing LEA provision, there is ample scope available to accommodate the 10,000 or so pupils who would otherwise have entered the scheme each year and who represent only about one-eighth of 1 per cent. of the total school population. The costs to the maintained sector of educating children who would otherwise have held assisted places will be one of the many factors taken into account in local authority settlements for 1998–99 and beyond.

asked Her Majesty's Government:With reference to the statement in the Labour Party manifesto that "We will also promote the extension of the Investors in People initiative into many more small firms", what is their definition of a small firm; how many there are in the United Kingdom at present; how many of them have at least started on the process of obtaining Investors in People status, and what increase they hope to see in this figure over the next three years.

Government departments have no one definition of a small firm. The national target for education and training for Investors in People already covers organisations with 50–199 employees, and 8,706 organisations in this group are committed to, or recognised against, the Investors in People Standard.DTI figures estimate that there are around 1.2 million enterprises with fewer than 50 employees in the UK, excluding sole proprietors. The number of organisations with fewer than 50 employees engaged with the Investors in People Standard is 13,096. My department is working with TECs and Investors in People UK to develop innovative approaches aimed at smaller firms. Until that work is completed no estimate can be made of potential penetration over the next three years.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, in the light of the decision by Mr. Justice Carnwath in

Section 21 of the National Assistance Act 1948 is about the provision of residential accommodation for those who need care and attention and who need to be looked after in that accommodation. We do not intend to introduce legislation to empower local authorities to provide for people for whom they have not arranged accommodation.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their timetable for the introduction of nurse prescribing on a national basis; andWhether they have estimated the additional costs of a national scheme for nurse prescribing, and, if so, what are those costs; andWhether they have made provision in their 1997–98, 1998–99 and 1999–2000 expenditure plans to allow for nurse prescribing on a national basis.

Decisions on the introduction of nurse prescribing will be made in the light of our findings from the extended pilot which commenced in April 1997.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, when implementing the Parental Leave Directive, they intend to make provision for paid parental leave.

The Government have no plans to introduce a statutory right to paid parental leave. We believe that the right to limited unpaid parental leave, as provided by the Parental Leave Directive, is a fair minimum standard which will help parents to reconcile their working and family lives without placing excessive burdens on employers.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will extend to men protection against dismissal for taking time off work to care for a sick child.

The EU Parental Leave Directive, which the Government is pledged to implement, states that workers shall be entitled to "time off from work …… for urgent family reasons in cases of sickness".

asked Her Majesty's Government:What plans they have to introduce charges for licences issued under the new EU Wildlife Trade Regulation.

The Government have decided that it would be appropriate for businesses and individuals importing or exporting specimens of wildlife species covered by the new EU Wildlife Trade Regulation to make a contribution to the costs of the licensing service operated by the Government. To provide for this, we have laid before Parliament Statutory Instrument No. 1421. This instrument, which will come into effect on 1 July 1997, will require applicants for import or export licences to pay a fee.In response to concerns expressed by wildlife traders, the scheme has been modified to ensure that businesses and individuals are not adversely affected by the introduction of fees. Applicants will have to pay only a proportion of the actual costs of processing licence applications. The basic fee will be £10.00 per species for animals, and £7.00 per genus for plants and corals, with a discount for larger consignments. Tourists bringing home holiday souvenirs made from controlled species will pay a fee of £5.00.The new EU Regulation will prohibit the sale and purchase of certain species unless a specific exemption has been granted. We have no plans at present to introduce fees for such exemptions.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What European legislation or proposals for legislation affect (a) British double decker buses and (b) the British midi-bus.

We are expecting shortly a proposal for a directive on the construction standards for buses and coaches which could have implications for future bus designs.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What information they have on the occurrence and rate of spread of

Japanese Knotweed is thought to be widespread in the UK. However, there is no centralised up to date information on the current distribution and rate of spread of this species.It is listed on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and is covered by Section 14. This makes it an offence for private landowners and local authorities to plant, or otherwise cause to grow Japanese Knotweed in the wild. We have no additional plans to combat this species.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will confirm the undertaking given by the present Deputy Prime Minister in a letter to

The Government are considering the case for a public inquiry into the disaster, and will make an announcement as soon as a decision is reached.