asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the current employer and employee rates of contribution to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland Civil Service pension schemes, and the scheme's total non-administration expenditure and income in each of the last three years. [HL1263]

Employer contributions for both the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Civil Service pension schemes are charged on a sliding scale. The rates are presently under review and are expected to increase. The current rates for Great Britain range between 12 per cent and 20.5 per cent while in Northern Ireland they range between 12 per cent and 18 per cent.Employee contribution rates are 1.5 per cent or 3.5 per cent dependent on the pension arrangement chosen by the individual scheme member with the exception of employees who opt to join the partnership pension arrangements who can contribute up to the Inland Revenue limit, 15 per cent of salary.Where an employee opts for a partnership pension account, which is a stakeholder pension, the employer makes a contribution as a percentage of pensionable earnings from 3 per cent to 12.5 per cent according to age. The employer also matches the contributions made by the employee up to a maximum of 3 per cent of salary. The employer makes a separate contribution, of 0.8 per cent, for centrally funded risk benefits.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What support they are giving to the work of the South East Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons. [HL1440]

Her Majesty's Government believe that the South East Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SEESAC) is a crucial information hub in the region, which is working towards the implementation of a regional stability pact implementation plan to combat the proliferation of SALW and ammunition.Under the Global Conflict Prevention Pool the UK contributes indirectly to the work of SEESAC through support for UNDP's global weapons collection, management and destruction programme, which has projects and programmes in 45 countries and three regions.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When the Apache helicopter will be operational with 16 Air Assault Brigade; in what numbers; and how many Apache pilots have been trained. [HL1394]

An initial operating capability of four aircraft will be declared at readiness to deploy from August 2004. It is expected that the remainder of the Apache helicopter crews within 16 Air Assault Brigade will have completed their training by late 2007.Some 25 pilots have already been trained as part of "train the trainers" phase, and a further 24 are currently undergoing training.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What progress is being made on Project SLAM and whether the delays in planning permission at RAF Waddington, Wittering and Honington, 40 Commando Norton Manor, 42 Commando Bickleigh and Helles (Vimy Barracks) have now been overcome. [HL1395]

Currently, under Project SLAM, 35 projects are in development to deliver 5,900 bedspaces. Of these, 2,220 are in construction and are shortly to commence on site. With the exception of 40 Commando Norton Manor, which suffered minor delays, the sites referred to have not been delayed as a result of the planning approval process.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many Service personnel are awaiting medical consultations and operations; and what action has been taken to reduce delays in these consultations and operations. [HL1397]

The Ministry of Defence holds information on the numbers of Service personnel waiting for consultations and medical treatment at Ministry of Defence hospital units (MDHUs); the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre; and directly managed units in Cyprus, Gibraltar and Northern Ireland. No information is held centrally on Service personnel who are treated within the NHS as NHS patients.

asked Her Majesty's Government:For each principal local authority in England, what is (a) the level of financial balances held by that authority at 31 March 2003; (b) the extent of any contractual commitments identified by the authority against its balances; (c) the extent to which the balances have been formally identified by the authority for particular purposes; and (d) the total value of the authority's general fund budget for 2003–04 as determined at the time of setting its council tax or precept for that year. [HL1433]

The available information has been made available in the Library of the Houses.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will withdraw and amend their guidance document

We have no plans to amend or withdraw the guidance. However, I would refer the noble Earl to the statement made by the Minister for Children, Young People and Families, Margaret Hodge, to the House on Monday 23 February, in which she set out the action that I have asked local authorities with social services responsibilities to take following the Appeal Court's judgment in the appeal against the conviction of Angela Cannings.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have plans to develop a "Parents Code" or a contract or compact between parents and the state with a view to clarifying the respective rights and responsibilities of the various parties who share responsibility for care and education of children. [HL1388]

Further to my reply of 28 January, Official Report, col. WA 42, which explained that government department and local authority responsibilities for the care and education of children are set out in statute, case law and guidance, I can confirm that there are no plans to develop a "Parents Code" or a contract or compact such as that described.We are, however, taking other steps to enable parents to be more fully aware of their rights and responsibilities. For example, we are strengthening the ways in which parents can obtain information about schools; we are also working to improve the partnership between schools and their pupils' parents as well as promoting ways of supporting parents to become more involved in their children's learning.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What they are doing to encourage greater participation in physical activity in the playground during lunch and playtime in schools. [HL1469]

The Government are investing more than £1 billion in England to transform physical education (PE), school sport and club links. The funding will help to deliver an ambitious public service agreement target, shared with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to increase the percentage of five to 16 year-olds who spend a minimum of two hours each week on high-quality PE and school sport within and beyond the curriculum to 75 per cent by 2006. The strategy includes encouraging schools to use lunch and playtimes more effectively to promote greater physical activity through more structured activities. For example, the Sporting Playgrounds programme is supporting £10 million of capital investment, between April 2003 and March 2005, to enhance primary school playgrounds which will increase physical and sporting activity. Best practice in developing the use of playgrounds and break times will be published later this year to further support schools.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What the United Kingdom is contributing in support of the European Year of Education through Sport in 2004. [HL1470]

The Government welcome the designation of 2004 as the European Year of Education through Sport. The year's aim—to promote and showcase the role sport plays in education—complements our own national PE, school sport and club links strategy in which the Government are investing over £1 billion in England. The United Kingdom's participation in the European Year of Education through Sport was launched on 10 February 2004, via simultaneous events in London, Cardiff, Glasgow and Belfast. The UK EYES website (www.eyes2004.org) provides information on the activities taking place in the United Kingdom and across the European Union.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the Health Professions Council has decided to cease partnership working with professional bodies on the quality assurance of education programmes in healthcare. [HL1275]

The Health Professions Council (HPC) is responsible for establishing standards of education and training and for approving courses of education and training for the professions it regulates. The HPC expects to begin its own consultation on these standards shortly. All relevant stakeholders, including professional bodies, will have the opportunity to contribute to the consultation process.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, following the announcement by the Department of Health that 11 surgical training places have been added, there are sufficient numbers of doctors currently training as transplant surgeons; and whether they plan to provide further surgical training places to meet demand; and [HL1380]What proportion of the additional 35,000 nurses that they intend to recruit by 2008 will be working in critical care; and whether this proportion will meet the demand for critical care nurses, as outlined in the recently published Transplant Framework for England,

Transplant surgery is a sub-specialty of general surgery. The Department of Health does not collect data at sub-specialty level.In 2001–02, 11 national training numbers were allocated specifically to fund specialist training in transplant surgery, following a review of' the supply of consultants in general surgery.We recognise that transplantation is a highly specialised area and the current growth in the system will increase the numbers of trained specialists available to take up consultant posts in the future. We will continue to monitor future national workforce levels and to make recommendations on training issues in all specialties.The projection for an extra 35,000 nurses by 2008 is not broken down by area of work and information is not collected centrally on the number of critical care nurses employed in the National Health Service.The Transplant Framework states that it is for the NHS, primary care trusts and NHS providers working together, to develop transplant services and to consider investing in additional workforce, critical care and theatre capacity to meet anticipated extra transplant activity.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What steps they are taking to include women in sports in a voluntary capacity, including coaching and refereeing. [HL1466]

Sport England's equity policy, and the UK Strategy Framework for Women in Sport, ensure that all publicly funded sporting projects adhere to comprehensive equity standards.The Government's PE, school sport and club links programme has an explicit target to increase the numbers of qualified coaches among women and of her under-represented groups. The Youth Sport Trust/Nike Girls in Sport programme is creating new opportunities for girls to participate in all areas of sport—including coaching and refereeing.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What progress has been made on the development of an equality standard in sport. [HL1468]

A great deal. Sport England's equity policy, as set out in its No Limits policy statement, applies to all governing bodies which it funds from Lottery and Exchequer sources. Funding may be withdrawn if equity standards are not met.Moreover, all four sport councils have adopted the UK Strategy Framework for Women's Sport, and 51 English governing bodies and other sporting organisations have achieved the preliminary racial equality standard of sporting equals, a partnership between Sport England and the Commission for Racial Equality.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What action they have taken against gangmasters who treat their "employees" like slaves, and how many court proceedings there have been in respect of such gangmasters. [HL1258]

The illegality associated with informal economy gangmasters is addressed by several government departments as part of their normal law enforcement functions. For example, the Department for Work and Pensions has an investigation resource that seeks out and prosecutes persons who are in paid employment while claiming benefit, some of whom work for gangmasters.In addition to these efforts, we have established within this department a unit responsible for gathering and collating information specifically on gangmasters. Where justified, this department sponsors joint operations involving all of the relevant departments, including the Department of Trade and Industry, Home Office, Inland Revenue and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.No statistics are available on the totality of enforcement action against gangmasters across government.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What guidance and equipment are made available to cleaners responsible for cleaning away trails of blood left by meat in passenger's luggage at Heathrow airport. [HL1305]

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether those responsible for government purchasing inquire into suppliers' policies and practices as regards labour rights and conditions in the supply chain, especially concerning computers and electronic goods from, for example, Mexico and south-east Asia. [HL1402]

Each government department is responsible for its procurement decisions, within the framework of the Government's procurement policy, based on value for money, and the EU procurement rules. The information required of suppliers should be relevant to the subject matter and performance of the particular contract and

Responsibility for ensuring that cleaners at airports are provided with the necessary instruction and equipment to deal safely with spilled blood lies with their employers. As regards risks to the cleaners themselves, health and safety legislation requires their employers (as it does all employers) to assess the risks arising from their work and to take steps to mitigate any risks so identified.The leaflet

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many live wild birds have been imported directly into the United Kingdom during the last five years from each of Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Pakistan, China. South Korea and Vietnam. [HL1371]

Our records show that the number of captive birds' imported into the United Kingdom from the countries mentioned above between 1 January 1998 to 16 February 2004 are as follows:consistent with the rules on selection set out in the EU procurement directives, where applicable. This applies to any information requested on social, employment and ethical issues.Information is not held centrally on procurement decisions made by individual departments.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What funds were allocated to the Rail Modernisation Fund in the 10-year transport plan; whether the fund is still in existence; and, for each year to date, how much money was spent from it, and how much private sector investment was levered in. [HL1409]

The 10-year plan envisaged £7 billion of expenditure through a Rail Modernisation Fund. The 10-year plan funding total remains of £33 billion. The funds originally allocated for the Rail Modernisation Fund have been used to fund additional network grant to Railtrack and Network Rail. The total private investment in the railway in 2001–02 was £3.4 billion and in 2002–03 was £3.2 billion.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their response to the suggestion that Gateway reviews of government information technology projects should be published as a means of improving the accountability of the procurement process and avoiding information technology failures. [HL1505]

An OGC Gateway^TM Review is conducted on a confidential basis for the SRO (senior responsible owner) and ownership of the report rests with the SRO. This approach promotes an open and honest exchange between the programme/project and review teams delivering maximum added value. OGC Gateway Directorate receives copies of review reports in order to identify and disseminate generic lessons learned.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Given the decline in use of the West Coast Main Line since 1993–94 and the low growth in forecast use for that line (indicated by the Written Answers by the Lord Davies of Oldham on 3 February,

This is Europe's longest, busiest mixed-traffic railway route. It is vital to ensure its capability to meet present and future demand. Eighty per cent of the work on the line is related to renewal/replacement of life-expired assets.