asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the authors of the report to the then Overseas Development Administration on the role of the International Planned Parenthood Federation in China and the work of the Chinese Family Planning Association were independent of the Overseas Development Administration. [HL796]

Yes. John Hobcraft, Professor of Population Studies at the London School of Economics, and Dr. Neil Price, Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Development Studies, University of Wales, were engaged as experts from outside the Government in order to provide independent advice to the Overseas Development Administration.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the authors of the report to the then Overseas Development Administration on the role of the International Planned Parenthood Federation in China and the work of the Chinese Family Planning Association were formerly staff members of the Overseas Development Administration, and, if so, when they resigned; and whether they had previously had any other professional links with it. [HL797]

Professor John Hobcraft has provided independent advice to the Government on population matters since 1974, but was never an employee of the Overseas Development Administration (ODA). Dr Neil Price was employed by ODA between 1987 and 1989 and has subsequently undertaken consultancy assignments.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will list the forthcoming business in the Council of the European Union for March; and list the major European Union events for the next six months. [HL874]

The following Councils are scheduled:

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will offer financial support to the United Nations programme to develop democratic professional police forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a key element in implementing the Dayton Agreement. [HL876]

Her Majesty's Government fully support the work of the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in particular its programme to develop a professional, effective, and democratic police force. I am pleased to announce that the Government are making an immediate contribution of up to £3 million to the UN Trust Fund for Police Restructuring, to provide equipment and training for the local police forces in both Entities, under the programme managed by the UN's International Police Task Force.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will support the appeal made by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for funds in support of the Prosecutor's 1998 programme of exhumations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Her Majesty's Government fully support the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Progress with the exhumations work is of great importance not only for the investigation and prosecution of suspected war criminals, but for the people of the region who have lost friends and relatives during the war. I am pleased to announce that the Government are making an immediate contribution of £1.22 million ($2 million) to the tribunal's trust fund so that the 1998 exhumations programme can begin on schedule on 1 April.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have information about the possibility of chemical and biological agents having been tested on human beings in Iraq. [HL783]

We are concerned at reports that Iraq may have tested biological agents on humans, but have no information to substantiate them.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) enjoys access to all persons detained under martial law, whether in Israel or in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank; and, if not, whether they will seek to facilitate it. [HL781]

The ICRC does not currently enjoy access to all persons detained in Israel and the Occupied Territories. EU Heads of Mission in Tel Aviv monitor this situation carefully. We continue to urge the Israeli government to co—operate fully with the ICRC.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether there has been any progress since May 1997 in obtaining access for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to all persons held in the fortress of Khiam, controlled by the South Lebanon Army; and whether there have been improvements in conditions within the prison.[HL780]

The ICRC has been denied access to Khiam since September 1997. We continue to urge the Israeli government to allow the ICRC to resume its humanitarian mission there. The Permanent Under Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office raised our concerns about Khiam when he met his Israeli counterpart in Jerusalem on 9 February.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, in the light of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's mission statement, and in particular the undertaking that "we shall work through our international forums and bilateral relationships to spread the values of human rights, civil liberties and democracy which we demand for ourselves", they have any proposals to make for the European Union to help the people of Indonesia. [HL756]

We are taking forward a number of Indonesia-related initiatives in line with our mission statement. As far as the European Union is concerned, during our Presidency we are working to arrange a visit by Troika Ambassadors to East Timor and we are preparing a draft resolution on East Timor at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. We are also considering making other proposals.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will list the known cases of pollution of watercourses in England and Wales by pyrethroid sheep dips since the use of such products first began, indicating in each case the extent of the resulting environmental damage. [HL798]

The Environment Agency, which is responsible for monitoring the aquatic environment in England and Wales, has recorded the following confirmed incidents of pollution by synthetic pyrethroid (SP) sheep dip during the past 18 months:

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they expect to complete their consultations on the Section 57 statutory guidance on contaminated land and whether in the meantime they will publish the supporting technical guidance as a practical framework for the immediate assistance of professionals in the clean-up of brownfield sites. [HL785]

On the matter of the Section 57 statutory guidance, I refer the noble Lord to the reply my honourable friend the Minister for the Environment made in another place on 22 December 1997 to the honourable Member for Liverpool, Riverside, (Mrs. Ellman—(Official Report, col. 439). The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and other bodies, including the Environment Agency, have already published various items of relevant technical advice and guidance on the investigation and remediation of contaminated land. Further documents are currently in preparation, which will be published during the course of this year.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they will announce the outcome of the scientific review of the approach in war pensions to the assessment of noise-induced sensorineural hearing loss [HL924]

In opposition, we said there should be an independent review of the scientific evidence on noise induced hearing loss and war pensions. We believed that it was important that the decision-making process was medically sound, could command the confidence of war pensioners and was seen to be fair. By law, decisions must be based on current medical understanding. The need for a review was fully endorsed by the Royal British Legion and other organisations.We set up the independent review in June 1997 under the chairmanship of Sir Kenneth Calman, the Government's Chief Medical Officer. It included experts in hearing loss who had given advice to the Royal British Legion in the past. The review has now been completed. Its conclusions are:

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether it is within the law to serve beef on the bone from a home-killed beast to the general public; and if so, whether such beef must be free of charge; and, if a charge makes it illegal, whether a voluntary entrance charge in aid of charity makes beef on the bone within the law to consume. [HL738]

No. Meat is not required to be deboned if it is derived from a bovine animal slaughtered on the owner's holding for his own consumption. Supply to the general public, irrespective of whether charged for or not, would not be regarded as "for his own consumption". If the bovine animal is sent for slaughter off the farm, then meat must be deboned before it is returned to the owner for his own consumption.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they intend to publish the Government's Green Paper on Defence Diversification. [HL953]

We have today published our Green Paper "Defence Diversification: Getting the most out of defence technology", as Command Paper No.3861. Copies are available from the Printed Paper Office. There will now be a period of consultation.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Dubs on 16 December 1997 (

The position remains that the funding arrangements are still the subject of discussion between the territorial departments. A decision is expected shortly.My honourable friend, Mr. Tony Worthington, the Minister with responsibility for this matter, will write to the noble Lord when a decision has been taken.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Blackstone on 9 February (

The information is not available in the form requested. Chapter 34 of the General Budget of the European Union for the financial year 1998 makes provision for European Commission expenditure of 1.29 million ecu (approximately £0.834 million) on publications this year, compared with 1.34 million ecu (£0.887 million) in 1997 and 1.694 million ecu (£1.12 million) in 1996. In some cases, other appropriations may also be used in whole or in part for information-related activities. Details of how much, if any, of this expenditure relates to materials for use in schools and other educational institutions and how much to materials distributed in the United Kingdom are not available to Her Majesty's Government.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What progress has been made on the competition to sell part of the student loan portfolio. [HL922]

My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Lifelong Learning has today announced the sale of a portfolio of student loans for £ 1 billion. This is the outcome of a policy first announced in September 1996. The sale has been achieved after a vigorous competition and we have accepted the most competitive bid. NatWest Markets was the successful bidder. The loans sold are those made under the current scheme. None of the new income contingent loans available from the 1998–99 academic year is involved.My right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer said in his Statement of 10 July 1997 that we would continue the policy of student loan debt sales as part of our pledge to work within the spending plans already announced for this year and next. The sale also underlines our commitment to developing a wide range of public-private partnerships which involve a transfer of risk to the private sector. This sale transfers to the private sector much of the risk of loans defaulting.The Student Loans Company, the existing administrator, will continue to administer the loans sold for at least the next five years. Borrowers who are currently repaying their loans or who have made deferment arrangements will consequently notice little change. We have also taken steps through the Education (Student Loans) Act 1998, to ensure that the position of borrowers is protected. Borrowers will retain their existing rights of deferment where their income is below 85 per cent. of average earnings, and interest rates will continue to be linked solely to inflation.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How much they spent on defending the case

The full cost is not yet available as some invoices have still to be submitted. £9,563 has been paid to date. Legal costs to the sum of £26,633.34 plus value added tax were awarded against the United Kingdom.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether there is a standard format and layout in which the Register of Electors in the United Kingdom should be published. [HL854]

The requirements for the format of the electoral register are prescribed in the Representation of the People Regulations 1986. Each register must show who is eligible to vote at which elections in a particular area but registration officers have some flexibility over the order in which names and addresses are shown.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What action they propose to take in response to the recommendations for combating bullying made by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons in his report on Her Majesty's Young Offenders Institution, Stoke Heath. [HL839]

The Government welcome the chief inspector's report on his inspection of Stoke Heath Young Offenders Institution. While the chief inspector did not identify a serious problem of bullying, he stated that there was a need for a more consistent and systematic response to it.The report was published on 25 February. In accordance with the protocol for handling the chief inspector's reports, the governor is required to produce an action plan within 30 working days of publication setting out how the Prison Service will address the chief inspector's recommendations, including those for combating bullying.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have received Sir Donald Acheson's second report on the effects on health of the regimes in special secure units, and whether they intend to make the results public. [HL952]

We have now received Sir Donald Acheson's second report on the Special Secure Unit (SSU) at Whitemoor. His report acknowledges that significant progress has been made in implementing his previous recommendations in particular, a series of regime improvements have been made, and a robust system of regular health reviews for all SSU prisoners has been introduced.With regard to closed visits, the report accepts that the improved regime and atmosphere within the SSU is, at least in part, attributable to the confidence which closed visits give to staff. Accordingly, there is no call for a change to the visits policy.The report contains just one further recommendation, which we accept, about the involvement of an external consultant psychiatrist in the health review process.A copy of the report has been placed in the Library.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will publish the resolution of the General Assembly of the Inter Allied Reparations Agency on 21 November 1947, the Rules of Accounting for German External Assets approved by the Allied Reparations Agency on 21 November 1947, and the circular letter of the Administration of Enemy Property Department of 18 May 1949, concerning the release of property to victims of Nazi persecution. [HL722]

I am pleased to confirm that copies of two of the documents have been deposited at the Libraries of both Houses. These are the Rules of accounting for German External Assets approved by the Allied Reparations Agency on 21 November 1947, and the circular letter of the Administration of Enemy Property Department of 18 May 1948 (not 1949 as stated in the question). We intend to deposit the resolution of the General Assembly of the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency shortly.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What studies have been undertaken on the social mix of visitors to national museums and galleries in the United Kingdom, and in particular on the class spread in 1998 and trends during the last 10 years; and whether they will publish such studies and place them in the Library of the House; and [HL626]Whether they carry out a detailed study to determine the present social mix of visitors to public museums and galleries in the United Kingdom.[HL627]

The social profile of visitors to public museums and galleries has most recently been examined by research carried out last autumn by the Central Office of Information for the Museums and Galleries Commission (MGC). Interim findings can be found in the publication Who Pays for Museums? which is available in the Library of the House, and the full report will be published in the spring. A previous omnibus report By Popular Demand, published in 1994 by Dr. Stuart Davies for the MGC, was based on over 200 visitor surveys across the UK.In addition, national museums and galleries in the UK carry out periodic research to determine their visitor profile, including the socio-economic, ethnic and age mix. While the departments with responsibility for national museums across the UK have some access to this research, it is rarely published and is not therefore available in the Library of the House. Other research is conducted by local museums, area museum councils, the Association of Independent Museums and the tourist boards.The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is considering the case for further research into the social mix of visitors across the museums and galleries sector.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will review their policy on borrowing works of art from national and publicly owned collections for the adornment of government ministries and private offices. [HL771]

No. The specific purpose of the government art collection is to promote Britain's profile at home and abroad through the display of British works of art. Works of art are therefore hung in embassies and other government buildings, including ministerial offices, which are regularly visited by a wide variety of people from outside government. The majority of the works of art on display are the property of the government art collection. A small number of works of art, if not required for inclusion in public display or exhibition, are also borrowed from other national collections from time to time, normally via the government art collection.