asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, as the result of the recent consultation documents,

Consultation on Who Decides? closed on 31 March 1998. The Government will be considering the responses carefully. It is too soon to give any indication about the timing of any legislation which might result from this consultation or that conducted recently in Scotland.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What were the results of the use of depleted uranium bullets in the Gulf War. [HL1309]

The small arms bullets used by UK forces during the Gulf conflict did not contain depleted uranium (DU) and, as far as the Ministry of Defence is aware, neither did the bullets used by any of our Coalition partners.Some Royal Navy ships were equipped with 20mm ammunition containing DU for the Phalanx close-in weapon system, which was not used during the Gulf conflict except for some rounds fired for proving purposes. The British Army's Challenger tanks were equipped with CHARM 1 120mm armour-piercing rounds which had a DU core, and the MoD's current assessment is that fewer than 100 such rounds were fired during the land campaign in which 1 (UK) Armoured Division successfully engaged and destroyed a number of Iraqi formations.Various units of the US forces which participated in the Gulf conflict were also equipped with ammunition containing DU. The results of the use of that ammunition are a matter for the US Government.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether all the costs of the recent deployment of forces in connection with events in Iraq continue to be borne by the United Nations. [HL1455]

There is no UN funding for the present deployment to the Gulf.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many members of the armed forces of Turkey are currently studying or receiving training in the United Kingdom; and at what cost to public funds. [HL1468]

Training has been provided in the UK to members of the Turkish armed forces, as is normal practice between NATO nations. Currently, there are 12 members of the Turkish armed forces on courses in the UK, at a cost of some £200,000.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the current position on the Multi-Role Armoured Vehicle programme. [HL1386]

I am pleased to announce that, together with Germany and France, we intend to develop and produce a family of armoured utility vehicles to meet the requirements of all three nations. The UK needs these vehicles to replace FV430, Saxon and Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) utility vehicles. We plan to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for the joint programme, known in the UK as the Multi-Role Armoured Vehicle, MRAV, covering development and initial production of a total of 600 vehicles. Subject to the completion of the national approvals processes in Germany and France and the negotiation of satisfactory contract terms and conditions, it is intended to place a contract with Eurokonsortium, a consortium including GKN Defence Ltd from the UK, Krauss-Maffei/Wegmann and MAK from Germany, and GIAT from France.This programme will be managed within the quadrilateral Organisation for Joint Armament Co-operation, known as OCCAR, and represents a major collaboration with our European allies. Collaboration will bring a number of benefits, including improved interoperability and financial savings, through sharing of development costs and economies of scale in production. The project also offers UK industry the opportunity to strengthen its links with the leading companies in the European armoured vehicles industry.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What recent actions they have taken to improve the security of nuclear materials in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. [HL1583]

I refer the noble Lord to the Answer given today by the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr. Doug Henderson, to a Private Notice Question asked in another place by Mr. Robert MacLennan MP.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What plans they have to restructure London Transport's Board. [HL1591]

We have decided to restructure the London Transport Board, bringing in a part-time non-executive chairman. The present chairman of London Transport (LT), Peter Ford, who is a full-time executive chairman, has therefore been asked to vacate the chairman's job. Mr. Ford will therefore leave LT today.We would like to pay tribute to the commitment Peter Ford has shown to London Transport over the past three and a half years. His period as chairman has seen a marked increase in the number of passengers using the Underground and the London buses, reaching record levels. There has also been a major improvement in the financial performance of both businesses, and of LT as a whole, such that LT now makes a substantial contribution to its investment programme. Peter Ford has been an untiring advocate for London Transport, and his contribution to thinking and debate about the future has been significant. We are grateful to him, and wish him well for the future.The changes we are making will cover the period during which we will be implementing the London Underground Public Private Partnership which was announced last month, and the run up to the creation of the Greater London Authority. We have concluded that the best arrangement will be to move to a new senior management structure. We shall be announcing new appointments to the LT Board in due course. Mr. Brian Appleton, currently non-executive vice-chairman of the LT Board, has agreed to act as chairman until a permanent appointment can be made.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their view of the "willingness to pay" method of environmental resource assessment. [HL1528]

"Willingness to pay" is a useful concept which can provide valuations of environmental impacts or other changes for which there is no readily observed market price. In some cases it underpins the use of cost benefit analysis in making decisions on policies, projects or programmes in the public sector.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will install traffic light cameras on the A.5 at the junction with the B.461 in Edgware. [HL1502]

The installation of traffic light cameras at this junction is a matter for the police and the local highway authorities, in this case the London Boroughs of Barnet and Harrow.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many (a) slight, (b) serious and (c) fatal accidents have occurred at the junction of the A.5 and the B.461 in Edgware; and how many persons were killed or injured in such accidents during each of the last three years for which figures are available. [HL1499]

The information requested is shown in the following table. The figures include all casualties and accidents occurring at, or within 20 metres of, the junction of the A.5, Edgware Road with the B.461, Whitchurch Lane and the A.5100, Station Road.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many pedestrians were (a) killed and (b) injured at the junction of the A.5 and the B.461 in Edgware during each of the last three years for which figures are available. [HL1500]

The information requested is shown in the following table. The figures include all pedestrian casualties occurring at, or within 20 metres of, the junction of the A.5, Edgware Road with the B.461, Whitchurch Lane and the A.5100, Station Road.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Who has been appointed to the two vacant posts of commissioner at the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for Wales. [HL1590]

I am very pleased to announce that my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Mr. George Howarth) has appointed Professor Kenneth George to serve as a commissioner to fill one post and that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Wales has appointed Mrs. Susan Smith as a commissioner to fill the other. Both appointments are effective until 31 December 2001.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the projected figures, for those serving life imprisonment in 2008, for:

No projections of the prison population are available beyond the year 2005, but it is expected that by then the number of life sentence prisoners will be 5,800. Separate projections are not available for murderers or discretionary life sentence prisoners, but it is estimated that there will be 900 prisoners serving an automatic life sentence for a second serious violent or sexual offence under Section 2 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997. Not all of these 900 prisoners represent additional prison places, since around half would have been prisoners under previous legislation serving either life or determinate sentences.The projection is consistent with the central projection published on 29 January 1998 in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin 2/98,

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the remaining reservations on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in relation to asylum and immigration legislation; and when these reservations will be lifted. [HL1523]

The United Kingdom ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on 16 December 1991, subject to the reservation that the United Kingdom reserves the right to apply such legislation, in so far as it relates to the entry into, stay in and departure from the United Kingdom of those who do not have the right under the law of the United Kingdom to enter or remain in the United Kingdom, and to the acquisition and possession of citizenship, as it may be deemed necessary from time to time.We take the view that the United Kingdom's immigration and nationality law is entirely consistent with the thrust of the convention, but we believe it is necessary to make it clear that nothing in the convention is to be interpreted as overriding the provisions of our immigration and nationality legislation.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer of the Lord Williams of Mostyn on 2 March

There have been no meetings held at the Home Office of the Association of Chief Police Officers' Sub-Committee on the Administration and Licensing of Firearms. It is common for the Home Office to seek advice or views on firearms matters from members of the sub-committee, as from many other sources, whether at meetings or by other means. The first occasions when particular members of the sub-committee had contact with the Home Office are not recorded. In the last 12 months, members of the sub-committee have participated in three Home Office working groups: the reference panel on historic firearms; the firearms forms working group; and the approved club criteria working group.

asked the Leader of the House:Why the statement made in the House of Commons by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 20 April on "Northern Ireland (Belfast Agreement)" was entitled "The Irish Settlement" when repeated in the House of Lords. [HL1565]

The statement to which the noble Lord refers did not itself bear a title. In repeating the statement on 20 April, my noble friend Lord Dubs referred to "The Belfast Agreement" and made clear, in answer to a subsequent question, that it was "not yet a settlement" (H.L. Deb., col. 943). Procedures have been changed to ensure that, in future, there is no discrepancy between the short title used with regard to statements in each of the two Houses of Parliament.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their assessment of the effect of introducing self assessment of income taxes in the financial years 1997–98 and 1998–99; and what is their estimate of the one-for-all increase in tax receipts for these two years. [HL1437]

The introduction of self assessment will have the ongoing effect of making the tax system clearer and more straightforward for taxpayers, clarifying their obligations and helping them to get their tax right first time. The costs of SA to the Inland Revenue in the two years were £100 million in 1997–98 (with savings of £5 million) and are expected to be £63 million in 1998–99 (with savings of £33 million). Once the new system is fully bedded in, SA is expected to reduce the costs of running the tax system by £70 million per annum.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they intend to introduce the new system of publishing explanatory notes together with Acts of Parliament. [HL1426]

It is hoped that draft Bills published this Session and Bills introduced next Session will be accompanied by the new style explanatory notes.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Question by the Lord Pearson of Rannoch on 12 March (H.L. Deb., col. 345), whether the United Kingdom could have stayed out of the European "stability pact" had it wanted to do so; and, if so, how. [HL1513]

The Stability and Growth Pact is designed to ensure sound public finances in EMU. The United Kingdom's interest lies in a successful EMU. Low government borrowing is essential for economic stability and the success of EMU.The Stability and Growth Pact, agreed in principle at the Dublin European Council in December 1996, and adopted at the Amsterdam Council in June 1997 comprises a voluntary, non-binding resolution recording the political commitments of member states and two procedural regulations for implementing Articles 103 and 104(c) of the Treaty. The first of these was subject to the qualified majority voting procedure; the second required unanimity. Both applied to all member states.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are their estimates of the transfers which may become necessary over the next five years between the 11 member states of the European Union which plan to form an economic and monetary union in accordance with the Treaty of Rome. [HL1515]

In EMU, fiscal policy will remain the responsibility of member states, subject to the constraint of the Stability and Growth Pact. There will be scope within the Stability Pact for member states' fiscal policy to react to changing circumstances, so increased transfers will not be necessary. In addition, Article 104b, the 'no bail-out clause', makes clear that a member state cannot be liable for another member state's commitments.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the total combined population of the East and West Midlands; and how many parliamentary constituencies and local councillors there are in that area; and [HL1492]What is the total population of the Greater London area; and how many parliamentary constituencies and local councillors there are in that area. [HL1493]

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are satisfied with the numbers of nurses being recruited to, and retained within, the NHS from the ethnic minorities; and what measures they are taking to promote equal opportunities in the nursing profession. [HL1469]

The Government are committed to fair representation and fair treatment of ethnic minorities across the employment spectrum in the Health Service. We have announced a variety of initiatives which aim to boost recruitment and retention of nurses from ethnic minority groups—for example, material included in the recent resource pack on good employment practice which was recently issued to all trusts, and in the recent advertising campaign. These formed part of an overall investment costing £2.15 million in strategies to improve recruitment, retention and return to practice of trained staff, with a particular emphasis on reaching young people and people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds.Planning guidance issued to education consortia has emphasised the need for consortia to satisfy themselves that contracted education providers apply good practices in equal opportunities throughout the whole student experience, including recruitment and selection. Ethnic monitoring and applications to pre-registration nursing and midwifery training has been in place since September 1997, and these data will help to inform future recruitment and publicity drives.The Department of Health has signed up to the Commission for Racial Equality's "Leadership Challenge", which commits the National Health Service to making progress on tackling racial discrimination. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health announced a package of measures last autumn which include positive action programmes for ethnic minority managers and clinicians, including nurses; an NHS Equality Award scheme to reward and promote good practice; a planned programme of activities to tackle racial harassment in the NHS, and work with trusts to improve monitoring of equal opportunities.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they expect to publish the sixth annual report of the National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit. [HL1585]

The National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit's sixth annual report has been published today. Copies have been placed in the Library. The report documents the Unit's findings in relation to sporadic, familial and iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) up to 30 April 1997 and in relation to new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (nvCJD) up to 1 January 1998.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many licences for the supply of arms and military equipment to Turkey have been issued in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and to what value in each year. [HL1467]

I will write to the noble Lord and place a copy of that letter in the Library of the House as soon as possible.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Which state schools they currently consider to have selective admission arrangements as defined in Clause 99 of the School Standards and Framework Bill. [HL1460]

The information requested is contained in the attached table.