asked Her Majesty's Government:How many young people have secured employment during the last three years; and by what percentage this differs from the number recorded in the preceding three years. [HL4580]

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

asked Her Majesty's Government:What work is currently being done by the Sentencing Advisory Panel; when the panel last made a proposal to the Court of Appeal about guidelines for specific offences; and when it is likely to do so again. [HL4632]

The Sentencing Advisory Panel is currently looking at the offences of handling stolen goods, manslaughter by reason of provocation and rape. The panel has also commissioned a public attitude survey on sentencing in domestic burglary cases which has now been completed. Its findings will be published in due course. The panel's most recent proposal to the Court of Appeal—that the court should frame a sentencing guideline on racially aggravated offences—was sent to the court on 19 July 2000 and published on 29 August. It is hoped that the advice on handling stolen goods will be submitted to the Court of Appeal in the new year.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the answer by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 7 November (H.L. Deb., col. 1361), why he would be "extremely surprised" if there was no direct radio link between a police car escorting an abnormal load and the load itself. [HL4638]

I have now been informed that mobile phones are the normal mode of communication between the police and the abnormal load's "second man". It would have been extremely surprising had there been no verbal communication at all between them.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What progress they have to report on the allocation of the Science Budget. [HLA776]

As a result of the spending review, the Science Budget has been increased by £725 million over the next three years. This represents an increase in the Government's investment in science of an average of 7 per cent per year in real terms over the next three years. Once again the Government are making it clear that they regard a healthy science and engineering base as critical to the nation's well-being.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What steps they took to ensure (a) the highest receipts and (b) the shortest completion time when the two institutional bidders for the sale of the Royal Army Medical Corps Training Centre site at Millbank, London, were shortlisted and 16 other commercial bids were eliminated. [HL4615]

In assessing the bids received for the former Royal Army Medical Corps site on Millbank, the Ministry of Defence has taken a number of factors into account. These include the degree of risk attached to the bids, their compliance with the planning brief agreed with the local authority and the presence of listed buildings on the site. Thus, the size of the receipt and the likely time before it would be received were central to our considerations.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What steps they are taking to address reports of ill health among Porton Down volunteers. [HL4718]

The Minister of Defence is taking a number of steps designed to help those who participated as volunteers in trials at Porton Down. The Ministry of Defence is very grateful to all those whose participation in studies at Porton Down made possible the research to provide safe and effective protection for UK Armed Forces against chemical and biological weapons. Suggestions have been made that some Porton Down volunteers suffer unusual patterns of ill health because of their participation. The Ministry of Defence has seen no scientific evidence to support that belief but takes such suggestions seriously. Therefore we are:Offering volunteers the opportunity for a thorough medical assessment if they have concerns about their health. This will be along the lines of the Gulf Veterans medical assessment programme and will use the same facilities at St. Thomas' Hospital, London. The data from these consultations will be analysed to explore whether patterns of ill health are associated with particular exposures;Seeking advice from the Medical Research Council on an independent epidemiological study. Such a study may help establish whether or not former volunteers are suffering from excesses of ill health as compared to a matched group of service personnel who did not participate in trials at Porton Down;Creating a multi-disciplinary policy focus within the Ministry of Defence which will be responsible for addressing volunteers' health concerns and liaising with other government departments;Approaching this issue with openness and a commitment to dialogue with volunteers and their representatives;Making public any information which may be of assistance to former volunteers. The current arrangements for the Porton helpline will remain in being. All volunteers who approach it will be given full information by letter on their own trials and offered the opportunity to examine the records for themselves at the site;Continuing to fully co-operate and provide assistance to the ongoing Wiltshire Police inquiry into trials at Porton Down.The policy focus for Porton Down volunteers issues will be provided by the Ministry of Defence's Gulf Veterans' Illnesses Unit (GVIU). The GVIU will be resourced to take on this important new responsibility and there will be no detriment to the ongoing Ministry of Defence commitment to assist Gulf veterans.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What guidelines have been given to local authorities and to schools concerning policies on reporting racist incidents which occur on school premises. [HL4659]

Guidelines for local education authorities and schools on the reporting of racist incidents are contained in our Social Inclusion: Pupil Support Circular, which was issued to schools and local education authorities in July 1999.The guidelines specify that all schools are required to have effective policies in place on anti-bullying, including racist bullying. These policies must make clear that racial harassment and bullying will not be tolerated and say how staff and pupils should deal with it. Schools should record all racial incidents, and parents and governors should be informed of such incidents and the action taken to deal with them. Governing bodies should inform local education authorities annually of the pattern and frequency of any incidents.A copy of the

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have conducted research to enable them to judge the effectiveness of the teaching methods promoted by the Dyslexia Association both for dyslexics and for others with learning difficulties. (HL4658)

The Government are committed to helping all children with special educational needs and are taking a number of steps to raise awareness and improve the identification and assessment of children who have or may have dyslexia. This work is being taken forward in partnership with some of the voluntary organisations that support children with dyslexia, including the British Dyslexia Association.Findings from two dyslexia research projects funded by the department were published last year. The first involved the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre to identify strategies to help teachers in the classroom; and the second was work Manchester Metropolitan University did with the British Dyslexia Association on methods of identifying and assessing specific learning difficulties and for effective intervention strategies in the classroom.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the remarks by Lord McIntosh of Haringey on 2 November (H.L. Deb., col. 1167) promising to write to Lord Attlee, whether safety cases could successfully be made to the relevant authorities for the winners of the shadow Strategic Rail Authority's inter-modal competition. [HL4639]

It is for the operator to submit a safety case to the Railtrack Safety and Standards Directorate (which will become Railway Safety Ltd on 31 December 2000) which will then consider safety approval. The schemes which were successful in the sSRA competition are subject to the same safety acceptance process with Railtrack as would happen in any other circumstances involving the operation of new or modified equipment on the rail network.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the high capacity road-going cement tanker trailer that was selected as a winner of the shadow Strategic Rail Authority's inter-modal competition was sufficiently robust for both road and rail use. [HL4640]

All the winning schemes of the shadow Strategic Rail Authority's competition in this particular case were backed by leading freight companies with their own engineering expertise. Blue Circle Industries, Metalair Feldbinder Ltd and Babcock Rail are blue chip companies with base experience in designing, building and operating road and rail equipment. The sSRA felt sufficiently confident in their proposals to provide funding for the project to be taken forward. Detailed technical issues relating to the operation of their equipment are the responsibility of each winner. Payments will be related to the achievement of agreed project milestones to ensure that expenditure of public funds is minimised in the event of a project not proceeding to full completion.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the payload of the high capacity road-going cement tanker trailer that was selected as a winner of the shadow Strategic Rail Authority's inter-modal competition. [HL4641]

The cement payload is 30.14 tonnes.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the remarks by Lord McIntosh of Haringey on 2 November (H.L. Deb., col. 1167) promising to write to Lord Attlee, whether there are any technical difficulties with the Mega 3 rail wagon; how many have been built; and whether they are currently registered with the appropriate authorities for use on the national rail network. [HL4642]

Detailed technical issues relating to the operation of this equipment are the responsibility of Babcock Rail. It would also be for the company to disclose the number of Mega 3 wagons that have been built. The Mega 3 wagon has been given safety approval by Railtrack, which gives unlimited accessibility to the network. Trials of a prototype are currently running with potential end users.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their evaluation of the prediction by the British Antarctic Survey that the Antarctic ozone hole could be replicated over the Arctic within the next 20 years; and what they believe the consequences, including health risks, would be. [HL4644]

The British Antarctic Survey did not predict that the Antarctic ozone hole could be replicated over the Arctic within the next 20 years but did quote US research suggesting such an event might be possible. The Arctic is not prone to the consistently stable and cold conditions that promote ozone loss in the Antarctic, nor does the spring ozone depletion in the Arctic last into summer as it does in the Antarctic.The amount of ozone depleting substances in the stratosphere is decreasing slowly but if the stratosphere continues to cool over the next few decades, then it is possible that ozone levels over the Arctic could fall to the threshold level defined for an ozone hole in any individual year. Very low levels are unlikely to occur consistently year after year or to be as low as those observed in the Antarctic.A reduction in the level of ozone overhead increases the amount of harmful ultraviolet sunlight (UVB) reaching the surface and an increase in UVB can damage the skin and eyes and cause changes in the immune system. A year with significant Arctic ozone depletion would result in perhaps a 10 per cent decrease in the amount of ozone above the UK in the spring; this is the same as the average decrease in ozone that has already occurred over the UK since the end of the 1970s.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their evaluation of the relationship between changes in the world's coral reef systems and climate change; and what action they are taking to stimulate public awareness of any such relationship and its causes. [HL4645]

The effects of rising sea temperatures and pollution on coral reefs are well documented. The 1995 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that increased coral bleaching will occur as a result of an increase in average global atmospheric temperature. In 1998, high sea-surface temperatures caused by E1 Niño resulted in one of the worst coral bleaching events ever recorded in the Indo-West Pacific Oceans between April and June of that year.The Government published the UK Climate Change Programme on 17 November. This sets out the Government's approach to tackling climate change, including action to raise awareness about the impacts of climate change.The United Kingdom plays an active role in fora concerned with the conservation of coral reefs, including the International Coral Reef Initiative and the Biodiversity Convention. The UK has committed substantial funding to support the development of improved understanding and better management of coral reef ecosystems. This includes support to the International Oceanographic Commission to establish the South Asia node of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, which will,

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their best estimate of how many children's lives are saved by street calming each year and how many are protected from injury. [HL4705]

In a 1996 report on a before and after study of traffic calming measures in selected 20 mph zone schemes that had been commissioned by my department, the Transport Research Laboratory said it had found that child pedestrian and child cyclist accidents had fallen by 70 and 48 per cent respectively overall. Local authorities have carried out many 20 mph schemes since then and have not required my department's prior approval to the speed limit since the powers were delegated last year. No national estimate has been made of the number of child deaths and injuries that have been saved as a result of such schemes but my department is convinced of their value. It therefore plans to allocate over £3 million for local authorities to spend on 20 mph zone schemes in the current financial year, in addition to their existing programmes of measures to help reduce child road casualties.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have considered the implications of the conviction at Liverpool Crown Court of Edward Butler who, when a patient in a mixed sex ward at Southport and Formby District General Hospital in March this year, sexually assaulted a female patient in the same ward; and whether the hospital authorities aided and abetted the crime by placing Mr Butler on a mixed sex ward; and [HL4653]Whether mixed sex wards have now been phased out at Southport and Formby District Hospital; and, if not, why not. [HL4654]

The ward in which the assault took place consists of single sex bays and single rooms and thus is not classified as "mixed sex". All patients have access to single sex washing and toilet facilities. Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust carried out a risk assessment immediately after the incident, which included a comprehensive review of patient management and security, and has introduced revised procedures. Nursing patients in single sex bays on specialist wards enables more people to receive optimal levels of care, allows greater flexibility of admission and results in fewer empty beds.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will now order all hospital authorities to expedite the elimination of mixed sex wards. [HL4655]

We are maintaining pressure to ensure that the vast majority of health authorities achieve the elimination of mixed sex accommodation in line with government objectives by 2002. Arrangements for increased performance management and more regular monitoring have been set in place to keep this issue high on the agenda and to ensure that privacy and dignity are improved in those places where it will take longer to achieve single sex accommodation.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the Chief Medical Officer has formed a task force to study Munchausen's syndrome by proxy; if he has, what are the terms of reference; who has been appointed to chair the task force; who are the members; what are their interests; and whom they have consulted, or will consult. [HL4700]

The Chief Medical Officer has not formed a task force to study Munchausen's syndrome by proxy. However, the Griffith's review (Review of the Research Framework in the North Staffordshire NHS Trust) recommended that the Department of Health convene an expert and inter-disciplinary panel to review methods of identification of children who have either had illnesses induced or fabricated by their carer, including the use of covert video surveillance, within the framework of the Government's interagency guidance for child protection Working Together to Safeguard Children (1999). In response to this recommendation, which the Government accepted, a steering group has been formed to develop draft guidance. It is intended that this guidance will be put out for public consultation in spring 2001 with a view to publishing the final document in summer 2001. External members of the steering group include representatives from professional associations covering nursing, paediatrics, social services, psychiatry, police and professions allied to medicine. The panel is chaired by a senior official from the Department of Health.