asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have any evidence that women from Sudan to whom visas have been granted have been brought to this country against their will to work in enforced domestic service for any Sudanese diplomat serving in London. [HL4359]

I am not aware that there is any such evidence. We are making enquiries and if the noble Baroness would write to me with details of her specific concerns I will write to her once these are complete.

asked Her Majesty's Government:For what reasons the number of persons detained under the Immigration Acts increased to an all time high of 1,108 at the end of September, notwithstanding that the number of asylum seekers in the preceding three months was 9 per cent lower than the eqivalent figure for 1999. [HL4416]

The increase in the number of people detained is a reflection of the gradual expansion of the number of detainee places available. An additional 112 places came on stream at the centre at Lindholme in July and built up to full capacity in September.The Government are committed to increasing the number of failed asylum applicants, inadmissible passengers and illegal entrants removed from the country. Last year about 8,000 failed asylum applicants were removed. This year the target is 12,000. Regrettably, detention is necessary because of the lack of compliance with conditions of temporary admission. Only about 3 of people leave the country voluntarily following adverse decisions and completion of the appeal process.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the statement by a Downing Street spokesman that the Prime Minister had "considerable reservations" about the European Union proposal to standardise passports and remove the Royal Coat of Arms from the cover of British passports, whether they will list each of those reservations. [HL4432]

The Commission has not yet put forward any proposals on passport format, although it announced its intention to do so in September. We have made clear to the Commission that we would not agree to the removal of the Royal Coat of Arms from the cover of the passport. Nor would we agree to any other amendments which were not justified on security grounds.We will inform Parliament more fully of our reactions to the proposals when they emerge.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will list the excess winter deaths for each English region, and for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, in each year from 1998–99 to 1999–2000, with a breakdown by age for each year. [HL3917]

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Her Majesty's Government:How they respond to the Chief Executive of the British Tourist Authority's view that the strength of the pound is detrimental to the promotion of British tourism. [HL4413]

The value of sterling is one of many factors that overseas visitors take into account when deciding whether to visit Britain. While present conditions are not easy, the relative weakness of the euro does help increase the British Tourist Authority's promotional spend in Europe because its grant goes further there.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the terms of the interim licence by which Camelot has been granted an extension to its licence to run the National Lottery until December 2001. [HL4307]

Camelot's licence to operate the National Lottery comes to an end on 30th September 2001. Contrary to an inaccurate media report, Camelot has not been granted an interim licence to operate the Lottery beyond then. I understand that the National Lottery Commission intends to negotiate a possible interim licence with Camelot, in order to allow a 12-month handover period in the event of a change of operator. The commission also intends to ensure that any handover does not fall during the Christmas period. Should an interim licence become necessary, the precise length of it will be finalised after the award of the seven-year licence. The details of any such licence will be made public once negotiations are complete.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by the Lord McIntosh of Haringey on 16 October (

Government cars are supplied under a three-year lease contract by the Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA). At the end of the lease period they are returned to the GCDA.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Scotland of Asthal on 25 October (

During the week of the visit by the UK Commonwealth Parliamentary Association to its Cayman Islands counterpart, the Governor was undertaking duty calls in London. The Acting Governor received the delegation in the style and manner that the Governor would have done if he had been in the Territory and full courtesies were extended to the delegation. In the case of Gibraltar, at the time of a visit of a group of Parliamentarians at the invitation of the Government of Gibraltar, the Governor was away from the territory for a week, his first opportunity to take leave since his arrival in the territory in April. Those organising the visit did not take up the offer of a meeting with the Acting Governor.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will list the forthcoming business in the Council of the European Union for November and also list the major European Union events for the period between 30 November and April 2001. [HL4507]

To date we have received the detailed agendas for the following Council meetings in November:

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have sought an explanation from the Cuban Government for its failure to allow officials from the British Embassy immediate access to the seven detained Britons in Cuba; and, if so, what was the response. [HL4451]

My honourable friend Peter Hain MP summoned the Cuban Charge d'Affaires on 25 October and requested an explanation for the lack of consular access. The Charge said that the British Embassy in Havana had applied for access through the normal channels of Protocol Division of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs but that such applications took time to process. He claimed that it had not been clear that immediate access was sought.Mr Hain told the Chargé that this explanation was not satisfactory and that lack of consular access was in breach of the Vienna Convention.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What discussions they have held with the government of the United States on ballistic missile defences. [HL4425]

The Government enjoy a regular dialogue with the United States Administration, and with our other allies in NATO, on ballistic missile defence and related issues.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the arrangements for the repatriation of bodies to the United Kingdom of Britons dying in the European Union are satisfactory; and whether they would support co-ordinated action across the European Union to tackle this problem, which confronts families at a time of highest distress. [HL4412]

We offer as much assistance as possible to bereaved relatives. However, the arrangements for repatriation of bodies are undertaken by specialist independent international funeral directors who have been involved in the preparation of a Draft Council Directive on Intra-Community Transfers of Mortal Remains. Their aim is to raise standards throughout the European Union, which can fall well short of those acceptable in the UK.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by Baroness Scotland of Asthal on 25 October (

There are no trade unions in the Cayman Islands representing the public sector. There is a recognised Civil Service Staff Association with full representation and bargaining rights. It currently has 400 members. The association represents all members of the Civil Service regardless of whether or not they are members.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What measures they are taking to prevail upon the National Islamic Front government of Sudan to allow humanitarian aid and human rights organisations access to all parts of Sudan to assist with the identification, rescue and return to their homes of men, women and children who have been abducted into slavery. [HL4358]

Following last year's EU sponsored UNCHR resolution on human rights in Sudan, the Sudanese Government established the Committee for the Eradication of Abduction of Women and Children, which is now working with UNICEF and Save the Children Fund. Since the committee's inception last year a number of abductees have been returned. The Government of Sudan has made clear publicly that it is committed to the success of the committee and has said that it sees abduction as totally unacceptable and contrary to both Islam and Christianity.Our Ambassador has been active in visiting the areas affected and through the EU we have been part funding the committee. Our Ambassador has also been attending the committee workshops in order to show our concern, and, most importantly, to urge greater effort, because there is still much work to be done. We continue to press all sides to allow access to all vulnerable areas of Sudan and are working closely with the UN towards an improved "Operation Lifeline Sudan".

asked Her Majesty's Government:What the timetable will be for the establishment of diplomatic relations with North Korea; and how they intend to make it clear that this does not signal approval of the conduct of the North Korean regime in terms of both its human rights record and the risk of nuclear proliferation. [HL4327]

There is no timetable for establishing diplomatic relations with North Korea. We have agreed to discuss, in principle, the opening of diplomatic relations, and we are considering with the North Korean authorities how best to take this forward.Establishing diplomatic relations is a channel of communications. In our dialogue with North Korea, we shall continue to press on issues of concern such as human rights and nuclear proliferation. Establishing diplomatic relations will enable us to do this more effectively.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they approve of the practice of allowing children who are falling behind at school, or who have come to England from abroad and need time to catch up, to drop back a year; and, if so, whether they will amend the format of schools performance tables so that year group performance is measured rather than age group performance. [HL4401]

We recognise that some pupils are working behind their normal year group for sound educational or other reasons. Decisions on such matters are for individual schools in consultation with parents.We announced in July that pupils who have recently arrived from overseas with English language difficulties may, on the request of a school, be excluded from the information published in the annual school performance tables. We accept that such pupils will not do their best in National Curriculum tests or public examinations until they have had a chance to improve their language skills and to become more familiar with the school curriculum. We have no plans, however, to make further changes in the way we report on achievements in the school performance tables.The primary school tables report on the achievements of all pupils eligible for assessment at the end of National Curriculum Key Stage 2, before they proceed to secondary education. New Progress Tests in English and mathematics are being introduced in May 2001. These tests, taken at the end of Year 7, are for pupils who do not achieve the expected level at the end of Key Stage 2 and will help to ensure that these pupils catch up with their peers as soon as possible. The secondary school tables report on the GCSE and GNVQ achievements of all pupils who by age are in their final year of compulsory schooling. This both ensures that a consistent approach to the calculations is taken for all schools in the country and provides parents and others in local communities with valuable information on the achievements of children as they reach these crucial stages in their education.Basing the GCSE/GNVQ information on the achievements of all pupils in Year 11, regardless of their age, could introduce inconsistencies into the data, since decisions on such matters as the year group in which individual pupils are educated are entirely for local determination and policies vary from one school to another. Doing so could also encourage an increase in the number of pupils completing their compulsory schooling with no GCSE or GNVQ passes if as a consequence more pupils are held back. This year 32,000 pupils in England reached school leaving age with no GCSEs or GNVQs. Although that figure has fallen over recent years as a consequence of our policies to improve standards in schools, we want to do all we can to reduce it still further. We hope that the big expansion of nursery education and the emphasis on catch up provision for those behind their peers will help to ameliorate the problem.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many caravan pitches were provided by local authorities and private persons or landlords respectively, and how many caravans there were on unauthorised encampments, as recorded by the January local authority counts since the information was first collected; and whether they consider that, in the absence of any new measures, unauthorised encampments will become unnecessary. [HL4450]

A list of local authority gypsy sites, indicating the number of pitches on each site, is produced annually by the Department, based on information provided by local authorities. When this information was first collected, in January 1982, there were 200 sites, containing a total of 3,113 pitches. As at January 2000, there were 319 sites, containing a total of 5,057 pitches. Information about sites provided by private persons or landlords is not recorded.The twice yearly (January and July) counts of gypsy caravans, also based on information provided by local authorities, do not provide information about numbers of pitches, but of gypsy caravans. At January 1979, when the count was first introduced, there were 2,988 caravans on authorised local authority sites, 1,194 on authorised private sites and 4,176 on unauthorised sites (total 8,358). As at January 2000, there were 6,118 caravans on authorised local authority sites, 4,500 on authorised private sites and 2,516 on unauthorised sites (total 13,134).Expressed as a percentage of the total number of gypsy caravans, the figures are:

	Caravans on local authority sites	Caravans on private sites	Caravans on unauthorised sites
Percentage at January 1979	36%	14%	50%
Percentage at January 2000	47%	34%	19%

The present policy (of encouraging gypsies to provide sites for themselves through the planning process, giving clear guidance to local authorities on their powers to deal with unauthorised camping and encouraging local authorities to keep existing local authority sites open) is clearly having an effect in reducing unauthorised camping. However, we are taking further action to ensure that this long-term trend continues.Nick Raynsford, the Minister for Housing and Planning, announced on 24 July, as part of the Spending Review, that £17 million is to be made available over the next three years for the refurbishment and improvement of the existing network of local authority sites. Details are to be published shortly. My department is also about to commission research into the availability and condition of sites, including how they are managed, as a means of assessing the need for further sites, and as a precursor to the next Spending Review.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many miles of new motorway were completed in England and Wales in each year between 1956 and 1999. [HL4498]

The information is not available in the form requested and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the amount spent on motorway building and widening schemes in each year between 1956 and 1999:

(a) The information is not available in the form requested and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.(b) The information is not available in the form requested and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many miles of new motorway are expected to be completed in 2000 and 2001. [HL4500]

The final 10-mile section of the M60 Manchester Outer Ring Road between Denton and Middleton opened to traffic on 30 October 2000. This is the only new motorway completion planned for 2000 and 2001.Road building in Scotland and Wales is the responsibility of the Scottish Executive and the Welsh Assembly.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How much they forecast will be spent on motorway building and widening schemes in 2000 and 2001 respectively. [HL4501]

The Highways Agency spent £125 million in 1999–2000 and forecasts it will spend some £145 million on motorway building and widening schemes. These figures include design and construction costs for schemes under construction, those already open but where final accounts have not been settled, and those planned. They do not include DBFO shadow tolls or land costs.Budgets for 2001–02 have not been established to this level of detail.Road building in Scotland and Wales is the responsibility of the Scottish Executive and the Welsh Assembly.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What progress has been made on the use of volunteer special members of the Reserve Forces (Sponsored Reserves). [HL4549]

The first agreement for the use of what are familiarly known as "Sponsored Reserves" was signed on 27 October 2000 on behalf of the Meteorological Office and the RAF's HQ Strike Command. Introduced by the Reserve Forces Act 1996, this new form of reserve service extends the ability of the private sector and government agencies to provide specialist support on operations as well as in peacetime. More properly known as special members of a reserve force, sponsored reservists are employed as civilians in peacetime and as volunteer members of a reserve force when deployed to support operations.The Mobile Meteorological Unit (MMU) provides meteorological support to the RAF in peacetime and to UK and Allied Forces when these forces are operating away from their fixed bases. Some 60 staff of the MMU form a unit of the RAF Reserve. Members will be routinely called out on a rotational basis under the terms and conditions of employment developed from the broad consultation process with industry that followed the Reserve Forces Act's coming into force in April 1997. This agreement represents the first use of the SR concept by my department and builds on the established working pattern of the MMU which has supported operations since 1962 with great distinction.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What professional advice was given to the Ministry of Defence concerning the sale of the Royal Army Medical Corps site at Millbank, London. [HL4269]

Defence Estates, the Ministry of Defence agency responsible for the disposal of surplus defence sites, includes professional surveyors who managed this case. Marketing advice was given by CB Hillier Parker, term commission consultants.

asked Her Majesty's Government:On what date Ministers in the Ministry of Defence approved the adoption of 5.56 mm as the calibre of army rifle to replace the 7.62 mm self loading rifle. [HL4293]

Research is currently being undertaken in order to provide a detailed answer to this question and I will write to the noble Earl when this work is complete. A copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What progress has been made on grant aid to encourage the safe operation of fishing vessels. [HL4548]

The Government wish to see the fishing industry develop a positive safety culture. Former schemes providing grants simply for equipment have not been successful in cutting accident rates. One of the keys to improving safety is good training and that will be our priority. We therefore propose to make up to £0.5 million available in each of the next three financial years to deliver safety training for fishermen in England. These payments, to be funded through the EU structural fund for fisheries, will cover the fees to enable courses to be offered to fishermen without charge.We are in discussion with the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Fisheries Departments of the developed administrations to develop a suitable new package of training measures. These will include courses to update safety awareness among fishermen hitherto exempt from the requirement for safety training; to provide training in accident prevention and risk assessment; and safety training for newcomers to the industry. We will consult the fishing industry on our proposals.We also intend that grant aid should be available through FIFG to support the trialling of innovative and experimental equipment to improve vessel safety.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What assessment they have made of the success of rehabilitation programmes in Greater Manchester for helping chronically sick and disabled people to obtain and retain employment; and whether they have any plans to put in place a framework of responsibility to guarantee long-term funding support for approved projects for such help from local agencies. [HL4291]

There are a number of schemes across Manchester which are successful in helping chronically sick and disabled people to obtain and retain employment. These include Breakthrough UK, who are working with people with learning disabilities as well as those with physical disabilities. In addition, Manchester City Council has recently received approval for a European Social Fund bid for the rehabilitation of mental health users, to enable them to return to work. This will be managed by the Manchester Mental Health Partnership. A similar scheme for learning disability users is being currently implemented.However, while it is the responsibility of individual health and local authorities to provide appropriate services for their residents, the Departments of Health requires all councils, with their National Health Service and other partners, to prepare Welfare to Work Joint Investment Plans by 31 March 2001.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What evidence they have on the provision in the North West of mix-funding from local health, employment and social services agencies for helping to rehabilitate those with acquired brain injury back into work; and what advice they have received from the Social Services Inspectorate on this issue. [HL4290]

It is the responsibility of individual health and local authorities to commission appropriate brain injury services for their residents from within the resources available to them. A variety of facilities exist, and are used.The Department of Health requires all councils, with their National Health Service and other partners, to prepare a Welfare to Work Joint Investment Plan by 31 March 2001. These plans will help provide "joined up" services for people who want to work, stay in work or to move closer to their place of work. The core of the Joint Investment Plan concept is inter-agency working, with a focus on the needs of the user.