asked Her Majesty's Government:When they plan to publish the report of the Prison Service Pay Review Body on prison officers' pay and conditions. [HL2597]

The report of the Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPR B) on the pay of governing governors and operational managers, prison officers and related grades in England and Wales in 2002 has been published today and copies have been placed in the Library.The

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the current comparative life expectancy rates for men and women once they have reached the age of:(a) 60; (h) 65; (c) 70; (d) 75; and (e) 80. [HL2449]

The latest information on life expectancy is based on mortality rates experienced in the years 1998 to 2000. The requested information is as follows:

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their estimate of the tax revenue the Exchequer will forego in the current financial year as a result of the Inland Revenue imposing limits on the payments of annuities which were purchased in previous years by the trustees of some occupational pension schemes for the benefit on retirement of individual pension scheme members, and in particular where the annuity contracts stipulated that there would be an annual uprating of 5 per cent paid to the annuitant. [HL2467]

The Government do not hold information about annuities purchased by occupational pension schemes. So it is not possible to provide the estimate requested.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, if the Geneva Conventions are interpreted so as to restrict the rights of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants to prisoner of war status, members of Her Majesty's Armed Forces would risk being denied their prisoner of war status if they were captured. [HL2363]

Members of the UK Armed Forces engaged in international armed conflict who are captured by an enemy would be prisoners of war under the terms of the 3rd Geneva Convention 1949 and we would expect them to be treated accordingly. The question of whether or not a person is entitled to prisoner of war status depends on the application of the criteria in Article 4 of that convention to the particular facts and circumstances in the individual case.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their evaluation of the outcome of the Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) (or Inhumane Weapons) Convention Second Review Conference in Geneva; what implications this conference has for future British policy towards explosive remnants of war and other matters; and what action they will be taking in response to the conference. [HL2487]

The Review Conference of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) was successful in establishing a way ahead for discussions on a number of important and complex issues. By agreeing mandates for a group of governmental experts (GGE) to discuss ways and means to address the issue of explosive remnants of war and to explore the issue of anti-vehicle mines, the CCW has the opportunity to address humanitarian and military considerations in detail. We hope that the work of the GGE will allow the meeting of states parties to the CCW in December 2002 to agree to pursue formal negotiations on these matters.Our policy towards explosive remnants of war will continue to seek to minimise the post-conflict risk to civilians at the same time as maintaining essential capability for our forces. To this end, we will play an active and positive role in the discussions of the GGE and any subsequent negotiations.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the latest estimate of the total cost of refunding tax to those retired Army personnel or their widows and widowers who are or were in receipt of a service invalid pension. [HL2532]

In his statement in another place on 23 January 2002 (Official Report, col. 891–902) my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State estimated the total cost of refunding wrongly taxed Army pensioners at around £30 million. The latest Inland Revenue estimate is that, to date, it has refunded in the order of £6.5 million to eligible pensioners or their spouses. We believe that the majority of these pensioners or their spouses have already been identified but we recognise that there may be some beneficiaries eligible to claim where the pensioner is deceased. It is not easy to establish their number or the cost attached to such claims. Nonetheless, we would not expect the total to exceed £30 million and based on the repayments that have been made to all of the cases that have been identified it is likely to be significantly less. Of those so far identified as having wrongly paid tax, only 14 have not yet had refunds.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What the forthcoming business is in the Council of the European Union for February; and what are the major European Union events for the period between 31 January and July 2002. [HL2552]

See attached.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether persons with experience in business or industry as employers or persons with experience in the trade union movement have been appointed as special advisers or expert or section advisers in the Department of Trade and Industry on employment tribunals; and, if so, what are their identities, their experience in the work of employment tribunals or other similar bodies, and the date and term of their appointments. [HL2321]

There have been no appointments made in the department of advisers of this description to work on employment tribunals.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will publish any relevant available information they have, with findings from any conducted surveys, concerning racial discrimination in the higher education sector, particularly with regard to the number of minority ethnic academics occupying posts in the three top ranking positions in British universities. [FIL2357]

Data on the ethnicity of academic staff in higher education are collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency. The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 puts a new duty on each university and college to prepare and maintain a written statement of its race equality policy and assess the impact of its policy on students and staff of different racial groups. They must monitor, by reference to those racial groups, the admission and progression of students and the recruitment and career progress of staff, including senior staff, and publish the findings. The higher education funding councils have the statutory responsibility to monitor the ethnicity of all staff in their sectors and publish the results of their monitoring. The Equality Challenge Unit set up by the higher education funding councils and representative bodies will support higher education institutions and funding councils in carrying out their respective duties.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they anticipate that specialist plans will be available to local authorities to deal with the CFC-containing foam in the insulation of waste refrigerators and freezers. [HL2414]

Guidance for dealing with fridges was issued to local authorities in December. Waste fridges may be exported for treatment in other member states, disposed of via high temperature incineration or stored pending treatment in the UK. Next month officials will meet with representatives of local authorities and companies offering disposal services for fridges to raise awareness of the disposal routes available.We anticipate that a specialist plant for dealing with CFC-containing foam in fridges will be operational in the UK by spring.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their estimate of the cost of disposing of waste refrigerators and freezers between now and 2004, when the manufacturers assume their legal liability to meet the cost of disposal. [HL2415]

I understand that the current charges levied by waste management companies for the transport, handling, storage and processing of fridges are in the range of £22 to £35 per unit. However, these costs are likely to fall once more plants are operational and the market more competitive.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How much they have allocated to local authorities to store waste refrigerators and freezers until they have the means to dispose of them; and whether they will make any additional payments. [HL2416]

£6 million has been added to the provisional local government finance settlement for 2002–03 to cover the costs of implementing the ozone depleting substances regulation relating to the period 1 January 2002 to 31 March 2002. We are continuing to assess the impacts of the regulation and will determine what further action is required beyond that.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by Lord Whitty on 17 December (

The noble Earl has sent me a report by Strutt and Parker that relates to three individual Countryside Stewardship agreements. The payment rates that we set within the scheme for annual management options, including field margins and arable reversion, are designed to reflect the average income foregone for these items on a national basis. As every farm is different, it is inevitable that the rates for any given option will be more attractive to some individuals than others, but of course applicants can choose whether or not to enter land into that particular option. I am pleased to say that demand for the scheme, including field margins and arable reversion, continues to be high.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will publish all correspondence to and from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission concerning street protests in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast during 2001. [HL2186]

It is not the Government's policy to publish private correspondence between Ministers and private individuals or organisations. Requests for information on this issue should be addressed in the first instance to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the value of the investment they are making in cultural, sporting and other activities undertaken with a view to fostering mutual respect between children of different faiths; and what evidence there is for the efficacy of such investment. [HL2420]

The Government are committed to promoting greater cultural diversity and racial equality through the arts, culture and sporting life and in so doing encouraging greater harmony in society. Many of DCMS's non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) are taking work forward in this territory, though the specific value of time and resources invested has not been quantified.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When the Treasury Solicitor's Department annual accounts 2000–01 will be published. [HL2549]

I can confirm that I have today placed a copy of the annual accounts in the Library.