asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether their proposed Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill will create an offence of trafficking for sexual exploitation, and also for labour exploitation, as promised by Lord Davies of Oldham during the debate on trafficking in human beings (HL Deb, 13 March, col. 910.) [HL3703]

The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill, which includes a new offence of trafficking for the purposes of prostitution, was introduced on Friday 12 April 2002.As my noble friend Lord Davies of Oldham made clear in the debate, this new offence will close the current loophole that allows foreign women to be trafficked into and out of the UK for prostitution. We intend to create new wide-ranging offences of trafficking for sexual and labour exploitation when parliamentary time permits.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether Lincolnshire police classified as a road or railway accident the accident at Nocton on 28 February in which a car crashed through a wall and landed on a rail track. [HL 3733]

The incident was caused when a car crashed into a wall on the B1188 at Becton and landed on the Sleaford to Lincoln line. The car was subsequently in collision with a train travelling from Birmingham to Sleaford. The car driver died at the scene.Lincolnshire police have launched a joint investigation with the British Transport Police as the incident involves both road and rail safety. They will determine at the end of that investigation whether it would be more appropriate to classify the incident as a road or rail accident.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether:

Up to 16 April, a total of some 19 national governing bodies of sport had been registered by the Criminal Records Bureau. Of these, five have agreed to act as umbrella bodies.Information required by the bureau for ordinary registration purposes does not definitively identify voluntary or other status. From additional information required of those indicating that they are prepared to act as umbrella bodies, 118 voluntary bodies have been registered as umbrella bodies.It is for those wishing to access the bureau's service to decide the most appropriate arrangements for them and it would have been inappropriate to plan on the basis of a pre-determined target number of umbrella bodies. There are good numbers of registered umbrella bodies in each area of England and Wales, with the exception of mid-Wales and North Wales where the numbers are lower. Organisations are continuing to apply for registration and the number of umbrella bodies will increase. Officials are continuing to explore means of developing the network further.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are capable of ensuring that asylum seekers granted refugee status or exceptional leave to remain indefinitely receive National Asylum Support Service Form 35 which allows them access to mainstream welfare benefits; and whether any failure to do so will carry a liability to pay interest; and [HL3792]Whether any termination of National Asylum Support Service support for successful asylum seekers which is not accompanied by the immediate dispatch of Form 35 will carry a liability to pay interest. [HL3793]

National Asylum Support Service Form (NASS) 35 does not give access to the benefits system. Access to mainstream benefits is provided by the letter notifying the person that a positive decision has been made on their claim. The issue of form NASS 35 is embedded in the process for terminating support. Its purpose is to provide information on the value of support provided by the National Asylum Support Service.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether it is acceptable that those affected by patents in developing countries can only challenge the validity of the grant of a patent after the event. [HL3594]

Patents are subject to the national law of the country in which they have effect. Developing countries are free to adopt any equitable system for challenging the validity of patents in their country.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why the Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement was negotiated without reference to the World Health Organisation or to the Rio Convention on Bio-diversity; and whether the guidelines therein that multi-national companies adhere to are sufficient to safeguard the environment, values and traditions of member states and their populations. [HL3596]

The World Health Organisation has observer status on the TRIPs Council, which administers the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement and plays an active role in discussions on the application of the agreement to medicines. The declaration from the Doha ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation last November mandated the TRIPs council to explore the relationship between the TRIPs Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). We consider the two agreements to be compatible and they need to he implemented in a mutually supportive way. It is for the member states to ensure their national laws achieve this. Intellectual property rights as specified in the TRIPs Agreement can only be exercised subject to national laws safeguarding the environment, values and traditions of member states and their populations. They do not give their owners the freedom to ignore these laws.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will publish in full the advice given by the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) in respect of the proposed wind power station at Cefn Croes together with any correspondence between CCW and any government department in the last 12 months and the minutes of meetings held in the same period between officials at the Department of Trade and Industry and at CCW on the matter. [HL3450]

The full advice of the Countryside Council for Wales was included in the comments of the National Assembly for Wales, which I arranged to have deposited in the Library of the House in January. Apart from circulating the documentation on the application to the CCW and the advice on the application provided by the CCW, there have been no meetings or correspondence between my officials and the CCW on the substance of the Cefn Croes case.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Who will carry the cost of de-polluting abandoned cars in the period from 2002–07 before that responsibility is taken on by the manufacturers; and what those estimated costs are likely to be. [HL3760]

Vehicles abandoned after the transposition into law of the End of Life Vehicles Directive will need to be treated in accordance with the environmental standards required by the directive. No final decision on the means of implementing the directive before or after 2007 has yet been taken and announced by the Government. Additional costs incurred by local authorities in dealing with abandoned vehicles would be expected to fall to the Department of Trade and Industry to reimburse under the New Burdens arrangements. The average additional cost of depolluting an end-of-life vehicle, when the directive has been transposed, is currently forecast to be £50.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What discussions have taken place concerning the future of Consignia with interested parties from other countries; who were involved in such discussions; and what were the outcomes. [HL3707]

Consignia took part in discussions about a possible merger of Consignia's postal activities with the Dutch Postal Service (TPG). However, no satisfactory agreement was reached and Ministers therefore agreed with the company that discussions should cease. It has been the policy of successive governments not to go into the detail of such commercially confidential matters.Since the Government have given Consignia commercial freedom within the public sector, it is entirely appropriate that Consignia has been considering its commercial strategy, including the possibility of relationships or ventures with other operators.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether it is the case that companies are not obliged to ask the appropriate government for permission to investigate local flora with a view to patenting them and are not obliged to seek a patent in the country of origin; and, if so, what guarantees there are that the country of origin is aware that local flora may be patented and that any benefit is returned to the country of origin. [HL3595]

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) recognises that countries have sovereign rights over their genetic resources and the authority to determine access to them, including through national legislation. The CBD also requires that access to genetic resources should be subject to the prior informed consent of the providing country (unless that country determines otherwise) and that where granted, access should be on mutually agreed terms. Such terms should cover the sharing of benefits arising from the commercial and other use of those genetic resources.Companies investigating local flora with a view to patenting must therefore, subject to the national law of the country concerned, seek the prior informed consent of that country and conclude mutually agreed terms.Most contracting parties have experienced difficulties in the implementation of the access and benefit-sharing arrangements of the CBD. A draft set of guidelines (known as the Bonn Guidelines) on access and benefit-sharing are to be put to the Conference of the Parties of the CBD being held in The Hague on 7 to 19 April 2002. If adopted, they will provide significant help to governments and other stakeholders in the implementation of these arrangements.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether local authorities have the power to pass a by-law requiring all shops and sales outlets in their jurisdiction to take deposits on all sales of bottles and cans containing alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages. [HL3089]

Although by-laws are local laws that are usually made by local authorities, they cannot come into effect until they are confirmed by a Secretary of State. One of the criteria for confirmation of by-laws is that they directly address a specific local problem and do not attempt to deal with essentially national issues. We would therefore have to consider carefully any proposals that are put to us for by-laws requiring deposits on sales of drink containers.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the technology and equipment now used by National Air Traffic Services will obviate failures such as that which required the grounding of aircraft in England on the morning of 10 April. [HL3776]

This is an operational matter for NATS. I understand the position to be as follows.There have been two occasions recently, on 27 March and 10 April, when aircraft movements in UK airspace have been disrupted by unplanned computer stoppages. Both events occurred at West Drayton as a result of a software problem associated with an unusual set of circumstances connected with flight data.NATS is conducting a full inquiry into the incidents to establish whether further adjustments are required to ensure the long-term robustness of the system.Notwithstanding the incident on 27 March, the Flight Data Processing System at West Drayton achieved 99.96 per cent availability in the year ended 31 March.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether government proposals to give up to 50 per cent rate relief to certain small businesses imply that the funding for this relief will come earmarked from the Treasury rather than from industry itself or from local authorities. [HL3797]

As stated in the White Paper Strong Local Leadership - Quality Public Services (11 December 2001) the relief will be funded by a small supplement on the rate bills of those not receiving the relief.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What steps are being taken to improve facilities, especially for families with children, for welcoming visitors to English airports. [HL3814]

Twenty-one United Kingdom airports, 16 of them in England, and 10 United Kingdom airlines have so far signed up to the Voluntary Commitments on Air Passenger Rights which were launched at a Council of Europe ceremony in Strasbourg on 14 February. These contain non-legally binding commitments to deliver defined standards of service to air travellers and will assist in ensuring that visitors to English airports experience a consistently high standard of service.The Airport Passenger Service Commitment covers 11 areas, with signatories agreeing to provide assistance to persons with reduced mobility; display passenger information on legal rights; provide assistance during periods of significant delays or disruption; improve airport access and ground transportation; provide appropriate infrastructure for check-in, baggage and security; regularly maintain equipment; ensure that sufficient trolleys are available; provide clear way-finding and staffed information desks; keep all public areas clean at all times; ensure that customer comment and complaint procedures are clear and effectively managed; and produce regular consumer reports on levels of passenger satisfaction.The Airline Passenger Service Commitment covers 14 areas and a number of these concern passenger service in airports, with signatory airlines agreeing to notify passengers of known delays, cancellations and diversions; assist passengers facing delays; deliver baggage as quickly as possible; provide assistance to passengers with reduced mobility and passengers with special needs; take measures to speed up check-in; reduce the number of passengers who are involuntarily denied boarding; and be responsive to passengers' complaints.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the current values that they use for calculating the costs of road congestion for cars and lorries for traffic speeds of less than 10 miles per hour and at 20, 30, 40 and 50 miles per hour. [HL3883]

In estimating the benefits of specific measures to reduce road congestion, my department uses values of time savings which are listed in Table 2/1 of the Transport Economics Note, published by the former DETR in March 2001, a copy of which I am placing in the Libraries of the House.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why it is deemed impossible for a false "diagnosis" of Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy to be expunged from the records of parents and children 'who have come to the attention of doctors and social services departments when the officials and medical practitioners concerned acknowledge the error. [HL3732]

The content of health records is the responsibility of the individual health professionals who create those records, subject to the requirements of regulatory bodies and law that records be adequate for purpose. Only the courts have the power to require health professionals to delete information from records. In the absence of such a direction from the courts, both the General Medical Council and the Medical Defence Union advise health professionals not to delete information for medical and legal reasons. Although the department has not published guidance on this issue, we accept the view of the General Medical Council as being authoritative.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the stockpile of smallpox vaccine which they have purchased from PowderJect Pharmaceuticals is derived from cell lines from aborted foetuses. [HL3806]

The stockpile of smallpox vaccine which is to be purchased from PowderJect Pharmaceuticals is not derived from cell lines from aborted foetuses. The cell lines used to produce this vaccine are chick embryo fibroblasts derived from specific pathogen-free hen eggs.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether companies who want their drugs to be approved by the Medicines Control Agency have to disclose all information about their products, including evidence relating to safety; and, if not, on what grounds are they entitled to withhold information. [HL3807]

Companies who want to obtain a marketing authorisation for their new medicinal product must disclose all known information on that product, including all evidence related to safety, to the Medicines Control Agency for evaluation. There are no grounds on which companies are entitled to withhold such information from the Medicines Control Agency.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they consider that all the information involving public health related to the drug paroxetine is in the public domain. [HL3808]

As with all medicines, the safety of paroxetine is continually monitored by the Medicines Control Agency (MCA) and the independent expert advisory body, the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM). Issues that arise which have a possible impact on public health are communicated to health professionals and the public.The MCA/CSM carried out a major review of the safety profile of paroxetine and other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which was completed in 2000 and resulted in product information being updated and an article being published in the drug safety bulletin

asked Her Majesty's Government:When the funding was agreed for a new community dental service in Nelson, Lancashire; what amount of funding was agreed for running the new service and from what date; who was responsible for the delays in providing accommodation; when the equipment was bought and how much it cost; how long the equipment has been in storage; and when the service is due to start. [HL3823]

A personal dental service has been operating from community dental service (CDS) premises at Nelson Clinic since June 2001. It is planned to move to Market Street shortly. This third wave scheme was approved in July 2000. Initial capital funding of £66,000 to cover start-up costs and equipment was followed by annual revenue funding of £64,500 in year one and £130,000 in both years two and three. The original start date of October 2000 was delayed by difficulties recruiting a dentist. New equipment was purchased at a cost of £51,805 in March 2002 in preparation for the proposed move to Market Street; until now the service has relied on existing CDS equipment at Nelson Clinic.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they intend to send patients to Turkey for medical care. [HL3825]

There are no plans to send patients to Turkey for medical care.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are examining ways by which they can support public sector broadcasting other than through the BBC. [HL3717]

In addition to the BBC, the public sector broadcasters are Channel 4 and S4C (the Welsh fourth channel). The communications White Paper made clear the Government's commitment to a plurality of public service broadcasting encompassing both public sector and commercial channels. The White Paper included an undertaking to review Channel 4's remit to ensure that the service continues to provide distinctive and innovative programming. It also confirmed the continuing importance of S4C in providing a distinctive public service for Welsh speakers. The Communications Bill, to be published in draft shortly, will contain detailed proposals to give effect to the White Paper policies.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the cost of government advertising for each of the years 1998–99, 1999–2000 and 2000–01; and what is the estimated cost for the current year. [HL3038]

The cost of advertising undertaken by COI on behalf of its government clients for the years concerned was (£m):

• 1998–99 105.5
• 1999–2000 113.5
• 2000–01 192.4

This information was published in the Central Office of Information Annual Report and Accounts 2000–01 (HC53) copies of which are available in the Library.Information for current year spend is not yet available.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the cost of tolls imposed by the Greater London Authority will change the pattern of use of ministerial cars. [HL3768]

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated under the terms of the framework document to the Government Car and Despatch Agency. I have asked its Chief Executive, Mr Nick Matheson, to write to the noble Lord.