asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the statement made in the

The Secretary of State for International Development gave a wide ranging interview to the political editor of the New Statesman, which was published in its 20 February edition. I recommend that the noble Baroness read the interview. She may find it interesting to compare its content with some of the news reports of the interview.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have accepted the recommendations of the National Heritage Committee in their report of press activity affecting court cases. [HL747]

The Government is committed to obtaining an appropriate balance between the due administration of justice on the one hand and freedom of speech on the other. It has concluded that the committee's recommendations maintain that balance and has therefore accepted them in principle.The Report recommended (i) that there should be legislation forbidding payments to witnesses, and (ii) that Section 2 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 should be strengthened so that it covers the collective or cumulative effect of pre-trial publicity in risking prejudicing a trial, as well as the effect of individual articles. This means that newspapers could not escape liability, as one case held they could, because a number of them had acted in a similar way and together had caused the prejudice.Work is proceeding on the form which the necessary legislation should take. It will be brought forward when a suitable opportunity is found.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will place in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament copies of documents to be considered at the Sixth Session of the Preparatory Committee on the International Criminal Court, which meets from 16 March to 3 April; and whether they will publish a paper summarising the main issues still to be decided and the position of the United Kingdom on each of them. [HL638]

The only document to be considered at the Sixth Session of the Preparatory Committee which we have yet received is the report of the intersessional meeting from 19 to 30 January 1998 in Zutphen, The Netherlands. This report contains the draft Statute for the International Criminal Court. It is available on the Internet at http://www.igc.apc.org/icc. We placed a statement of Her Majesty's Government's policy on the International Criminal Court in the Libraries of the House on 24 February.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have studied the evidence of state—sponsored disappearances in Algeria presented in the Human Rights Watch report

We continue to be concerned about allegations of human rights violations in Algeria, including those contained in the latest Human Rights Watch report, and raise these concerns as part of our ongoing dialogue with the Algerian Government.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are satisfied with the United Nations' report on the implementation of the oil-for-food programme in Iraq; and whether they have made any independent assessment. [HL705]

We welcome the Secretary-General's report on the implementation of oil-for-food. His recommendations to improve and enhance the oil-for-food arrangements were embodied in Security Council Resolution 1153, adopted on 20 February, which was drafted by the UK.The UK has been at the forefront of provisions to help the Iraqi people. We have consistently co-sponsored oil-for-food resolutions.We have also provided £94 million in humanitarian aid since 1991, making us the second largest donor country.

asked Her Majesty's Government:On what basis resources for general medical services (formerly administered by Family Health Service Authorities) are allocated to health authorities at present; and whether changes are contemplated that will more accurately reflect and cater for the increased needs of deprived populations than the current system of deprivation payments to general practitioners, based on Under-Privileged Area (Jarman) scores. [HL728]

At present most general medical services expenditure is non cash-limited or demand-led and is funded nationally rather than from moneys allocated to health authorities. Cash-limited funds are allocated to health authorities according to a weighted capitation formula. Deprivation payments are made from non cash-limited funds and the Government are considering ways in which a more effective use of deprivation payments can be achieved.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Jay of Paddington on 16 February (

I regret that this information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What role they envisage for the Brook Advisory Centres in delivering their target for reducing the rate of conceptions for girls below the age of 16 as outlined in

In November 1997 the Government announced the development of a national programme to tackle the high rate of teenage conceptions in England. The principal aim of this programme is to reduce the number of teenage conceptions by supporting young people in deferring sexual activity and improving access to advice and counselling services, including contraception for those who are sexually active.A consultation exercise on the national programme is currently under way. A wide range of organisations and individuals have been and will continue to be involved. These include professionals in primary and community health, education and social services as well as representatives of voluntary, community and user groups.Local Brook Advisory Centres, along with other local services, can play a significant role in providing services for young people.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether doctors are entitled to prescribe 100mg and 200mg Zyloric acid tablets to National Health Service patients; how many such tablets were prescribed in 1996 and 1997; and what is the price per 100 tablets that the National Health Service pays the manufacturer. [HL720]

Doctors may prescribe Zyloric tablets on the National Health Service, but there is no 200mg preparation in tablet form. In 1996, 1.7 million 100mg Zyloric acid tablets and 3.3 million 300mg tablets were dispensed in the community in England. The net ingredient cost of 100 tablets was £10.96 for 100mg tablets and £28.07 for the 300mg tablets.Information for the whole of 1997 is not yet available.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are satisfied that the funds they provide to organisations involved in the provisions of services, advice and information on reproductive health are not used by those organisations to campaign for the liberalisation of the abortion laws in Great Britain or abroad. [HL711]

The Government do not fund any organisation to campaign for or against abortion. Funding, via the Section 64 schemes and equivalent Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish schemes, is provided to assist national voluntary organisations with their central administrative costs. A number of grants are also awarded for projects which are innovative and of potential national significance, or which further the department's policy objectives by developing a particular pattern of service.The Department for International Development funds a number of organisations involved in the provision of services, advice and information on reproductive health in poorer countries, including the United Nations Population Fund and the International Planned Parenthood Federation. These organisations are opposed to the promotion of abortion as a method of family planning.We are not aware of any organisation receiving funding using it to campaign for the liberalisation of abortion laws in Great Britain or abroad.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will publish in the

The information requested is not available for Session 1979–80. For the remaining Sessions, the information requested is as follows. I should say, however, that this procedural record of the outcome in each case might not give the whole picture. It would not, however, be appropriate for me to seek to interpret these results.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their policy towards disclosure of details of military and related police assistance provided to foreign governments. [HL861]

Military and related police assistance is provided in support of a range of foreign and defence policy aims. It can be an important factor in the development of the United Kingdom's relations with countries in all parts of the world, and can make a significant contribution to regional stability by promoting military effectiveness, which helps to deter aggression. This assistance is a key element of defence diplomacy. All requests for military assistance are considered in the light of the Government's wider foreign policy.Many foreign governments regard such assistance as contributing to their national security and are thus sensitive about public disclosure of information about it. As a result of this sensitivity, it has been the practice of Ministers to decline to answer questions concerning the detail and nature of training assistance. This convention has continued to apply since the introduction of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, which recognises defence, security and international relations as reasons for withholding information.The Government have been considering this practice against our commitment to openness. As a result, we have decided that the public interest would be served by greater disclosure of the details of military and related police assistance provided to foreign governments. In future, details of the amount of assistance provided by our Armed Forces will be produced annually and published in the Ministry of Defence's Performance Report, starting with that to be produced following the end of this financial year. These details will include the numbers of overseas personnel trained, by country, the numbers of United Kingdom personnel involved in providing training or assistance overseas, again by country, and levels of any subsidies provided by the MoD. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office will publish details of the training subsidy programme funded by them. This information will also be made available to the public on request.All other requests for information in relation to training and assistance provided will, with immediate effect, be considered on their individual merits, but with a presumption towards disclosure unless this would be against the public interest as governed by the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. In practice, it is possible that information may need to be withheld where foreign countries have legitimate security concerns, where our bilateral relations might be damaged or significantly weakened by disclosure, or where disclosure would harm our own national security. We would also not normally intend to make available personal details of students or training personnel, for reasons of personnel privacy, or provide information which might threaten the safety of individuals. Where a contractor could demonstrate that his sales prospects could suffer specific harm as a result of releasing information on military assistance, this would be weighed against the public interest in deciding to what extent disclosure should proceed, but the amount of information withheld will be kept to the minimumThe new practice represents an appropriate balance between the need to ensure that genuine defence and foreign policy interests are protected, and legitimate parliamentary and public interest is these matters. It will ensure that significantly more information is available than has previously been the case.