asked Her Majesty's Government:What action they are taking to ensure that the European Union's aid programme has a poverty reduction focus. [HL819]

The Government's objectives for improving the contribution of European Community development programmes to poverty reduction were first set out in a Department for International Development strategy document published in December 1998. Many of those objectives have been achieved, including negotiation of a new agreement between the European Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific states, signed in Cotonou in June 2000, which has poverty reduction as its overarching goal; agreement—for the first time—on a clear European Community development policy with poverty reduction as its central objective; and a new structure for the implementation of European Community development programmes, including the establishment of the EuropeAid Cooperation Office on 1 January 2001.The Government published their revised objectives for European Community development programmes in August 2001. These focus on supporting the effective implementation of the new policies, including reversing the decline in the proportion of European Community aid allocated to poor countries; promoting trade policies that help developing countries benefit from the global economy; integrating action on environment issues into European Community development policies to promote sustainable poverty reduction; and developing effective responses to crises, conflict and humanitarian disasters. The Government are working in a wide range of ways in collaboration with the Commission, the European Parliament, other member states and with civil society to support efforts to achieve these objectives.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many United Kingdom passports are at present valid; and what arrangements exist to ensure that passports are returned for cancellation on the death of the holder. [HL955]

It is estimated that there are 43,855,981 valid British passports, equivalent to 73.4 per cent of the population. Every passport contains a reminder that it should be returned for cancellation on the death of the holder. The Passport Service is seeking to establish arrangements to receive routine notifications of death as part of its work on improving fraud countermeasures.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the cost to the Treasury of the preparatory work to set up Culture On Line carried out under the auspices of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. [HL904]

Five million pounds was allocated to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as part of the 2000 Spending Review to allow initial development of the project, including the creation of a business case to support continued investment in Culture On Line; £1,757,075 has been spent to date.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the percentage reduction of tax levied on the category of diesel fuel known as red diesel; when this privilege was introduced; which classes of users benefit from this reduction; how much was the cost to the taxpayer of this concession in the last full tax year; and how much was the financial benefit of the concession to the farming industry in (a) the last tax year and (b) the total benefit over the last ten tax years. [HL919]

Red diesel is gas oil which has been marked with a red dye and a tracer chemical making it eligible for a rebated rate of excise duty. The effective duty rate is currently 3.13p per litre. This is around 93 per cent lower than the ultra-low sulphur diesel rate of 45.82p per litre.The concept of rebated duty on heavy oil was first introduced in 1928. The system of marking gas oil that was eligible for a rebate was introduced in 1961.Red diesel may be used as fuel not only for certain agricultural vehicles but also for other off-road vehicles and in some commercial central heating systems. Under the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979 it must not be used as fuel for road vehicles. Schedule 1 to that Act (excepted vehicles) categorises the types of vehicles which are not considered to be road vehicles and which can, therefore, use red diesel as a fuel when travelling on the public road in the circumstances set out in the schedule. The intention of Schedule 1 is to limit the use of red diesel to vehicles that only use the public road on very limited occasions.Quantities of red diesel released for consumption in 2000–01 are provisionally estimated at 6,879 million litres. Assuming this level of consumption, application of the ultra-low sulphur diesel rate would have raised additional revenue of around £3 billion. In practice, the cost would be considerably less than this because an increase in the duty rate would reduce the demand for red diesel.Customs data on payments of duty on red diesel do not indicate the end-use. Therefore no estimate has been made of the financial benefit to the farming industry.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether there has been a change in the status of the War Pensions Agency in the last 12 months. [HL557]

The Government announced on 8 June 2001 that responsibility for the War Pensions Agency (WPA) was tranferring from the Department for Work and Pensions (formerly the Department for Social Security) to the Ministry of Defence. The WPA's status as an agency remains unchanged.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What plans they have to publish the next annual report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner. [HL1062]

The Prime Minister has laid before the House the annual reports for 2000 of the Interception of Communications Commissioner, the Rt Hon Sir Swinton Thomas, and the Intelligence Services Commissioner, the Rt Hon Lord Justice Simon Brown. The confidential annexes have been excluded in accordance with Section 58(7) and 60(5) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. The annual reports will be available on the Cabinet Office website.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What representations the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions has received from the Council for Travel and Tourism about the impact of the "terrorist crisis on the travel and tourism industry" and the need for government assistance; what reply is being sent; and what action is being considered. [HL869]

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State has received a letter from the Council for Travel and Tourism requesting government assistance for airlines and airports and calling for Ministers to reassure the public that it is safe to fly.The council has been informed that the Government have made no decisions about whether to make aid available to UK airlines, other than to underwrite third-party war risk insurance. Control of state aid is a matter for the European Commission and any further aid offered would have to be compatible with the Commission's guidelines on emergency aid measures, as set out in its recent communication on the repercussions of the terrorist attacks in the United States on the air transport industry.My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions has recently completed a tour of UK airports, promoting air travel.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What changes in planning policy guidance and Building Regulations they have introduced to deliver a sustainable approach to construction, as outlined in

Building a Better Quality of Life sets out the Government's strategy for more sustainable construction. It highlights the key role planning plays in underpinning more sustainable construction by enabling the provision of homes and buildings, investment and jobs in ways that are consistent with the principles of sustainable development. The guidance we have issued since the strategy was published has continued to underline the importance of planning for sustainable development.The strategy does indicate that the Building Regulations were being reviewed to see what contribution they could make to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. The Building (Amendment) Regulations 2001, SI 2001/3335, were laid before the House on 11 October 2001. These regulations made changes to the technical requirements with regard to Part L, conservation of fuel and power. It is estimated that these measures will contribute 1.4 MtC in 2010 of the overall 23 per cent cut in the UK's greenhouse gas emissions that we set out in our Climate Change Programme published last November. The regulations will come into force on 1 April 2002.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many teachers in secondary schools are teaching subjects for which they were not trained. [HL884]

The latest figures available show that in 1996–97, 82 per cent of secondary school teachers held an appropriate subject qualification for the subjects taught.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the comments made by Baroness Ashton of Upholland on 22 October (H.L. Deb., col. 906), how many graduate-trained teachers will be employed to support playgroups; and who will fund them. [HL922]What ratio of graduate-trained teachers to playgroups or numbers of children in playgroups are to be employed under the new proposals for early years' learning. [HL923]

We have asked local early years development and childcare partnerships (EYDCPs) in association with their local education authorities, to ensure that a ratio of one teacher with qualified teacher status to every 10 early education settings in the private, voluntary and independent sector, including playgroups, is achieved by 2004.As a result, we have estimated that by 2004 approximately 1,500 teachers with qualified teacher status will be needed to support all early education settings in the private, voluntary and independent sector including playgroups. It is for EYDCPs to decide how this should be arranged.Education Standard Spending (ESS) will increase by 6 per cent for 2002–03; £50 million in ESS has been provided with the aim of supporting qualified teacher involvement in early years settings and the introduction of early years area special educational needs co-ordinators. Local education authorities will need to decide how much of that increase they spend on employing qualified teachers as they make progress towards the target.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Answer by Baroness Hollis of Heigham on 17 October, how many people are employed in hospitals in reporting to the Department for Work and Pensions for the purpose of hospital downrating of the state pension; and at what cost to the National Health Service. [HL846]

There are no people employed in hospitals who report to the department for the purpose of hospital downrating. The onus for reporting hospital admission and discharge lies with the patient or their representative.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What they intend to do about the increasing number of vehicles abandoned by the roadside. [HL851]

We will be consulting very shortly on a package of measures to help local authorities deal with the abandoned vehicles problem. The main proposals are to reduce the notice periods used by local authorities so that abandoned vehicles can be removed more quickly; enable local authorities to use DVLA's powers to remove unlicensed vehicles and to provide better access for them to DVLA's records; promote exchanges of best practice between local authorities; and, in the longer term, bring forward changes to vehicle registration and licensing procedures to ensure greater accuracy of DVLA's vehicle record.

asked Her Majesty's Government:With reference to EU Common Agricultural Policy funds that are allocated to the United Kingdom: (a) how much is allocated to England; (b) of that allocation how much is spent on the England rurual developmment plan; and (c) how that percentage compares with the amount spent by the other European Union countries. [HL883]

During the 2001 EU budget year, the UK received £2.47 billion in CAP receipts. Direct payments to farmers accounted for approximately 90 per cent of this. The rest related to expenditure on market support measures such as intervention storage and export refunds. Of the direct payment receipts, approximately £1.4 billion were in respect of England. Market support expenditure cannot be allocated to particular regions.For the 2000–07 rural development programming period, the UK has been allocated 154 million euros of EU rural development funds per annum, which represents 3.5 per cent of the annual EU total of 4.3 billion euros. Of the UK allocation,50 per cent has been committed to the England Rural Development Programme.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What cost is charged by the Government Car Service to Ministers and officials at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (per year) for the supply of cars (and, separately, of drivers); what is the book value of the cars (a) individually and (b) in total; and what is the total "overhead" charged by the Government Car Service for these cars. [HL920]

The Government Car Service (GCS) provides permanently allocated cars and drivers to five Ministers and the Permanent Secretary in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The total cost of providing this service for 2001–02 is estimated at £323,000, including £193,000 for drivers.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What guidance they would give to farmers and producers about the ability of:

The Government's policy is to help local farmers and producers market their produce effectively. Although public bodies are generally required to look at best value for money in their procurement decisions, they do represent a significant market which we would encourage farmers and producers to explore.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they support the European Union's proposal that all medicines for food-producing animals must be prescribed by a veterinary surgeon; and what would be the impact on United Kingdom farming costs. [HL948]

This proposal forms part of a much wider set of proposals produced by the European Commission to amend the procedures for the authorisation and control of both human and veterinary medicines in the EU. In its present form this particular proposal could result in UK farmers having to pay more by incurring veterinary surgeons' fees when obtaining those medicines that are currently available without veterinary intervention. In considering this proposal the Government have taken account of its likely impact on the supply of veterinary medicines and have agreed that, during negotiations, UK officials should seek to modify the proposal to enable a flexible approach to the distribution of veterinary medicinal products that takes advantage of existing national practices, so long as consumer protection and animal welfare can be demonstrably assured.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they intend to apply to pay optional agrimonetary compensation to the arable sector. [HL1063]

We have considered the case for payment of optional agrimonetary compensation to the arable sector. While we acknowledge the difficulties that the sector is facing, we have decided not to draw down these funds given the many competing demands on the Exchequer at present, not least the cost of eradicating foot and mouth disease. The arable sector will, however, receive £28 million in compulsory agrimonetary compensation this autumn.