asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the figure for the number (total and percentage) of the London magistrates' courts and London youth courts in which a witness support service is operating. [HL3532]

The witness service is run by the independent charitable organisation Victim Support, which receives grant aid from the Home Office for this purpose.Victim Support advises that at the end of March 2002 witness support services had been established in 36 (90 per cent) of the 40 London courts. It further advises that the remaining courts should have a service within a matter of weeks.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their advice regarding the use of shotguns and rifles near (a) public highways and byways; (b) areas subject to provisions of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000; and (c) populated areas. [HL3637]

It is the responsibility of any person using a rifle or shotgun to ensure that any shots are made safely. Before starting to shoot they should be aware of all footpaths, bridleways and rights of way and ensure that the angles of fire are safe.It is not a specific offence to shoot across a public right of way. But doing so could amount to a common law nuisance; wilful obstruction of the highway under the Highways Act 1980, Section 137; or intimidation under the Highways Act, Section 130, if any person is threatened in any way.Under Section 161 of the Highways Act 1980, it is an offence for any person, without lawful authority or excuse, to discharge any firearm within 50 feet of the centre of any highway which comprises a carriageway if, in consequence, any user is injured, interrupted or endangered. This applies to rights of way where there are vehicular rights only.Under the Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 14, paragraphs 23 and 26, it is an offence to discharge a firearm in any street.When it comes into force, the new right of access to open country and registered common land under Part 1 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act may be subject to exclusions or restrictions. An owner or agricultural tenant will have discretion to close or restrict access for up to 28 days each year and applications may be made for further closures or restrictions in the interests of land management and safety, for example, where it is proposed to shoot over land.If the police have reason to believe that a shooter represents a danger to public safety they can revoke the holder's certificate.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What measures are being taken to prevent young offenders on bail offending further. [HL3800]

We have today made an order which will bring into force Section 130 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 across England and Wales. It will do so on 22 April 2002 in the 10 street-crime initiative areas—London, Manchester, West Midlands, Merseyside, Thames Valley, Lancashire, Avon & Somerset, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire—and on 16 September 2002 in the rest of the country.This section will give new powers to the courts to remand a 12 to 16 year-old into secure detention where they are of the view that the child or young person has a recent history of repeatedly committing imprisonable offences while on bail or in local authority accommodation. In such a case the court must be satisfied that only a secure remand would protect the public from serious harm from him or her or that only a secure remand would be adequate to prevent the commission of further imprisonable offences by him or her.We have also made an order which brings into force Sections 131 and 132 of the same Act which allow courts to tag 12 to 16 year-olds while on bail or on remand to local authority accommodation. This will increase the number of options available to the courts for dealing with children and young people who repeatedly offend while on bail as an alternative to custody. It will come into force on 22 April 2002 in the 10 street-crime areas listed above, plus Northumbria, and in the rest of the country on 1 June 2002.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by Mr Wills, Parliamentary Secretary at the Lord Chancellor's Department, on 7 March (HC Deb,

I attach a table which sets out the courthouses listed in the Answer of 7 March (HC Deb, 407W) and whether they were more than 10 miles away from the nearest operational courthouse.However, further information on courthouse closures has been received from the magistrates' courts committees since that Answer and there were five courthouses of which my department had not been informed previously. I have therefore added those closures to the attached list and identified them.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many courthouse closures have taken place since November 2001; and how many more courthouses are planned to be closed. [HL3615]

In relation to the Crown Court and county courts, only Chepstow and Monmouth county courts have closed since November 2001. A proposal to close Gateshead county court is currently going through public consultation, but no final decision has been made. Public consultation has also taken place on the proposal to close Gravesend county court. Following the consultation the decision has been taken that the court will not close until an alternative venue can be found in Gravesend to hold hearings.No Crown Court closures are planned, with the exception of the satellite Crown Court at Knutsford, where public consultation started on 10 April. There is an on-going process of consultation in relation to the civil courts which started with initial consultation through the

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether any progress has been made on proposals to convene a major international conference to examine the causes of terrorism; and what action they have taken in this regard. [HL3443]

The next meeting of the United Nations General Assembly Working Group which discusses this issue will take place in October. The UK is actively involved in discussions in this forum.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many Gibraltarians will be entitled to vote in any referendum which may be called to decide the future constitution of Gibraltar. [HL3528]

The number of those entitled to vote in any referendum on the future of Gibraltar would be determined by the franchise criteria to be established at the time. The franchise criteria for the 1967 referendum were set out in an Order in Council in 1967.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean on 12 March

As I explained in my previous Answer to the noble Lord on 12 March, the Chief Minister of Gibraltar would participate in the Brussels Process with his own and distinct voice on the British side of the table: a formula known as three voices, two flags. It would be for the people of Gibraltar to decide in a referendum whether any proposals that emerge from the current Brussels Process talks should be implemented.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What action they are taking to reassure the people of Gibraltar that they will act in accordance with the preamble to the 1969 Constitution which states that the British Government "will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes". [HL3670]

Her Majesty's Government have repeatedly made clear that they stand by the constitutional commitment set out in the preamble to the 1969 Gibraltar Constitution. My right honourable friend the Prime Minister reaffirmed this in another place on 18 and 20 March.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are satisfied by the progress made on the reconstruction of Kosovo over the past 12 months. [HL3666]

Much has been achieved over the past year. Successful elections in November, in which both Kosovar Albanians and Serbs participated, led to the establishment of the new provisional institutions of self-government. With the active support of the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo and the rest of the international community, progress is being made on rebuilding Kosovo's infrastructure and developing its economy. Kosovo's health, education and social service systems are also being developed.The UK has contributed to this progress through the Department for International Development's bilateral programme for reconstruction and development, which totals £5 million in 2002, along with a contribution of £2 million to the 2002 Kosovo consolidated budget. The UK has also provided £21 million to the European Union's programme in Kosovo, which totals 175 million euros in 2002.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether any goods subject to strategic controls have recently been approved for export to Iraq. [HL3696]

Following consultation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Trade and Industry recently approved a licence to export laboratory equipment for use by secondary schools in Northern Iraq. The export included 6.25kg of sodium sulphide, which is subject to the Dual-Use Items (Export Control) Regulations 2000, as amended. The UN Iraq Sanctions Committee approved this export to Iraq under the Oil for Food programme (OFF). Under OFF Iraq is allowed to export unlimited quantities of oil to fund the purchase of humanitarian goods. The export is consistent with the consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What progress has been made with the quinquennial review of the defence medical agencies. [HL3514]

As my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Dr Moonie) indicated in his Written Answer in another place on 15 December 2000 (Official Report, cols. 274–275W) to my honourable friend the Member for Gedling (Mr Coaker), the review has covered the functions and organisation of the Ministry of Defence's four medical agencies—the Defence Secondary Care Agency (DSCA), the Defence Dental Agency (DDA), the Defence Medical Training Organisation (DMTO) and the Medical Supplies Agency (MSA)—and other aspects of medical provision. He announced the results of the initial phase of work in his Written Answer in another place of 17 October 2001 (Official Report, cols. 1223–24W) to my honourable friend the Member for Great Yarmouth (Mr Wright).The review team has now completed its work and we have placed a summary of its conclusions in the Library of the House. In brief, the main points are that:

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their assessment of the risk to innocent men, women and children of unexploded ammunition in Afghanistan; what indications this has for future military policy; and what action they are taking. [HL3524]

There is a considerable quantity of unexploded ordnance in Afghanistan, much of it dating back several years, and this obviously poses risks to the population. One task for the international community will be to provide assistance in clearing this and humanitarian agencies specialising in mine clearance are already present in Afghanistan.The Department for International Development has so far allocated £3.2 million through the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) for humanitarian mine action interventions in Afghanistan. This will cover mine clearance operations, training and mines awareness activities. The Ministry of Defence has also posted a military officer to assist the UNMAS in Kabul.The coalition puts great care into its selection of targets and weapons. We only target military objectives that would provide a military advantage to the coalition and all munitions are designed to explode on impact. This approach will remain.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have any plans to establish a national ecolabelling scheme similar to the Blue Angel scheme in Germany. [HL3598]

We have no plans to do so but we continue to support the development of the EU ecolabelling award scheme, which encourages greener product standards across the whole of the single market. We asked the Advisory Committee on Consumer Products and the Environment to examine the case for setting up a national scheme as well as part of its remit to look at the role of product information in driving up standards of environmental performance. The committee's advice (in its first report, Choosing Green) was that it would not be cost-effective to set up a national ecolabelling award scheme at this stage and that resources for improving product information could be applied more effectively on other initiatives. The Minister for the Environment has indicated to the chair of the committee, Dr Alan Knight, that these other options seem more promising at this stage, and should be examined further. The committee has been assisting with that further work.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have received the report being prepared by the Canadian seed authorities on the possible causes of the GM contamination of hybrid oil seed rape exported to the UK in the spring of 2000. [HL3726]

The report has recently been issued by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. I have arranged for copies to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they consider that the introduction of the Accounting Standard Board's Financial Regulation 17 will have a more stringent effect on those implementing it than the alternative proposal for European legislation. [HL3330]

Accounting standards are a matter for the Accounting Standards Board, which is independent of government. Financial Report Standard 17 sets out how companies must show the costs of retirement provision in their accounts. Companies must comply with FRS17 by 2003.There is a proposal that EU companies should comply with international accounting standards by 2005. The international standard corresponding to FRS17 (IAS 19) currently allows companies to smooth the effects of fluctuations in pension scheme asset values in their balance sheets, although the International Accounting Standards Board is reviewing this standard. Smoothing is not permitted by FRS17.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will provide a summary of the differing levels and types of state support available to older people in residential or nursing care in the United Kingdom since October 2001. [HL3453]

On 1 October 2001 the Government delivered on their commitment set out in the NHS Plan to bring in free nursing care for people paying all of their nursing home fees themselves. This is to meet the costs of registered nurse time spent on providing, delegating or supervising care in all settings. Residents receive a contribution of £35, £70 or £110 per week, depending on their level of need.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 19 March

Information is published annually by the Cabinet Office on the volume of correspondence from Members of Parliament received by Ministers and agency chief executives; departments' and agencies' handling targets; and their performance in meeting these targets. The department's current service first targets are to answer all correspondence within 20 working days. The report for 2001 is due to be published shortly.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many recorded incidents of infection there have been (a) among children under 16 with haemophilia since recombinant treatment was introduced for them in 1998; and (b) among adults with haemophilia using plasma-derived products since the same date. [HL3414]

Since 1998 the Medicines Control Agency has received no reports of infections associated with recombinant treatment among children under 16 with haemophilia and no reports of infections in adults receiving plasma derived products for the treatment of haemophilia. Reports of suspected adverse drug reactions are made voluntarily by doctors, dentists, pharmacists and coroners.