asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the Northern Ireland Department for Social Development has commissioned research into co-ownership in Northern Ireland; and, if so, when the findings will be published. [HL1911]

The Department for Social Development recently commissioned two research reports into the operation and effectiveness of the co-ownership scheme, which are currently being considered.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many applications for co-ownership were received by the Northern Ireland Department for Social Development in each of the past five years; and how many were successful. [HL1912]

Applications for co-ownership are made to the Northern Ireland Co-Ownership Housing Association (NICHA) and not to the Department for Social Development. The information is as follows:

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many prisoners are currently held by United States allied forces in Iraq; at what rate they are being processed to decide their status and future; whether some have been charged with crimes; if so, how many; and what courts will hear their cases. [HL1845]

Questions relating to detainees held by the United States are a matter for the US Government.In general, the rate at which criminal detainees are being processed by the Iraqi criminal justice system is increasing as the Iraqi capacity to deal with them builds. The detention of prisoners of war and security detainees is kept under review. Security detainees who do not pose a threat to coalition forces are released.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What role they envisage for the United States in Bosnia-Herzegovina once the European Union has taken over the military operation there. [HL1849]

We would expect the US to want to contribute to a continuing but limited role for NATO in Bosnia, which would focus on defence outreach and some operational tasks, including in support of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, once SFOR withdraws. We would welcome any such undertaking. History has shown in Bosnia that the international community is most effective when it works together. Work is ongoing on the delineation of tasks between the EU and NATO in Bosnia once SFOR withdraws.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the renewed European Union and Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe dialogue with Belarus will cover arms exports and proliferation and the verification of end-uses for such exports. [HL1892]

An EU-Belarus dialogue is still at an early stage. But the message already being delivered bilaterally by EU member states and by EU demarche is the need for more responsible arms exports. We encourage Belarus to sign up to and apply the criteria of the EU code of conduct to their arms exports and have welcomed their recent efforts at transparency in arms exports.Belarus has signed up to the OSCE's small arms and light weapons (SALW) document, which requires the adoption of a series of principles to improve national controls over the export of SALW and for states to exchange information on legislation and current practice on export policy and procedures. Belarus has provided this information. Belarus has also asked the OSCE for assistance with the destruction of large quantities of SA LW and ammunition. An assessment visit is planned but before providing any destruction funds, we and other donors wish to see progress on Belarus' export controls as a demonstration of political will.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What evidence they have that county council divisions of more than one member make for more effective local government and better democratic representation; and whether they will give advice to the Electoral Commission on this matter. [HL1777]

While the Local Government Act 2000 allows county electoral divisions of more than one member, it is a matter for the Electoral Commission to determine whether it should recommend such divisions based on the reviews it conducts and evidence it obtains.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How much of the estimated £30 million cost of elected regional assemblies will be spent on the proposed northern regional assembly. [HL1928]

The Government's proposal is that there should be separate elected regional assemblies for each of the eight English regions where people in the region choose to have one.This autumn there will be referendums in the three northern regions, the north-east, the north-west, and Yorkshire and the Humber, giving people the chance to vote on an elected regional assembly for their region.It is estimated that elected regional assembly set-up costs will be around £30 million per region.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 17 June 2002 (

The Department of Health receives information from National Health Service trust accounts, which includes amounts relating to the income of the trust. However, miscellaneous and other income is not analysed to provide an answer in relation to the NHS trusts.The National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) centres in Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Newcastle have not received funding from agrochemical companies. The NPIS London centre received funding from agrochemical companies of about £3,000 per annum for specific work on surveillance and advice on safety. In addition there was a single payment in 2001–02 of £15,000 to help to support registrar posts.The National Teratology Information Service, Newcastle upon Tyne, has not received funding from agrochemical companies.

asked Her Majesty's Government:From which pesticide classes has the Birmingham centre of the National Poisons Information Service produced TOXBASE entries; whether the entries include human poisoning data from clinical studies or experience or adverse effects data from animal studies; and whether they will place a copy of these entries in the Library of the House. [HL1577]

The Birmingham Centre of the National Poisons Information Service has produced TOXBASE entries covering all pesticide classes. These entries routinely include a summary of human poisoning data from clinical studies and take note of relevant animal studies. All of these entries are available to healthcare workers on the NPIS computerised database, TOXBASE.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the publication

The monthly publication, Current Awareness in Clinical Toxicology, is produced by the Birmingham centre of the National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) and is available for downloading at www.npis.org. Current Awareness in Clinical Toxicology is a list of literature references relevant to a clinical toxicologist, and covers the areas of clinical, occupational and environmental toxicology. Although primarily produced for the United Kingdom NPIS, it is made available by the international clinical toxicology societies to their members worldwide.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Which institutions (a) that are government-owned; or (b) in which National Health Service work is carried out; or (c) in which Department of Health work is funded; or (d) in which Department for Environment, Food and Regional Affairs work is funded, also operate as commercial contract research organisations; and which of these institutions carry out work for agrochemical or pharmaceutical companies or contract with consultant clinical toxicologists who work in the National Health Service. [HL1734]

It is not possible to provide information regarding all government-owned institutions that operate as commercial contract research organisations as this information is not held centrally.The Health Protection Agency carries out a wide range of relevant research, some of which is in accordance with contracts placed and funded by pharmaceutical companies. The role of the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control in ensuring the safety and efficacy of biological medicines involves some contractual research work with pharmaceutical companies. The National Health Service also undertakes work for pharmaceutical companies under contract. The Department of Health is currently funding research at over 40 per cent of universities in England. Information on which of these universities also carry out work for agrochemical or pharmaceutical companies is not held.The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is funding research in the current financial year at around 270 individual organisations. Of these, Defra's main contractors are mostly government-owned or sponsored (for example Defra's own science agencies, research council institutes, universities). As far as is known, all the research contractor base operate commercially as well as providing services to Defra, but information is not held on these commercial activities.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What conclusions were reached from the most recent survey by strategic health authorities as to the ability of National Health Service trusts to meet the requirements of the European Working Time Directive from August 2004. [HL1758]

The Working Time Directive (WTD) is a legal requirement on which implementation is being taken forward locally.Information gathered via strategic health authorities (SHAs) show that the WTD is a significant challenge for parts of the National Health Service, given the reinterpretations of working time.SHAs, with support from the Modernisation Agency, will be working closely with trusts facing difficulties on implementing plans for compliance.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the funding arrangements for the new building at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, which is intended to facilitate developments in tackling malaria. [HL1931]

The North West Development Agency (NWDA) and the Government Office for the North West (GO-NW) are involved in ongoing discussions about support for the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. The level of support that the NWDA feels able to offer is a matter for the agency. GO-NW is looking at the business plan for the school with a view to considering how European structural funds can most effectively and appropriately be used to support the project.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Which sports bodies the Department for Culture, Media and Sport consulted before supporting proposals to remove all employment restrictions from the Working Holidaymaker provisions. [HL1837]

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport did not specifically consult any sporting bodies before changes to the Working Holidaymaker scheme came into effect. The Home Office undertook a public consultation and received three representations from sporting bodies against the proposals.While it was not considered at the time that sport warranted an exemption, the department is working with the Home Office to review the impact of the Working Holidaymaker provisions on sports on this country. This includes our current consultation with a variety of sporting bodies about the scheme.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What measures they are taking to improve the intelligence available to HM Customs and Excise on weapons trafficking and importing. [HL1891]

The Government's strategy to tackle gun crime in the United Kingdom includes the creation of a strategic tasking and coordination group involving HM Customs and Excise, the police and other enforcement agencies, under the overall chairmanship of the Association of Chief Police Officers. As part of this initiative the National Criminal Intelligence Service is providing Customs with enhanced and updated intelligence assessments.Customs have also contributed to a United Nations panel of experts whose role is to formulate an international standard for the marking of firearms. This will assist UK enforcement authorities to trace the origin of firearms used in crime. Where such firearms have come from illicit sources, Customs will be able to use this information to improve their risk assessment and targeting activity.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the amount collected (before collection costs) in 2002 by the United Kingdom as tariffs under the European Union common external tariff on imports of goods into the United Kingdom from non-European Union countries; and how much of this amount was in European Union anti-dumping duties. [HL1893]

The amount collected in 2002 by the UK as tariffs under the EU common external tariff on imports of goods into the UK from non-EU countries was published in table 12.2 of National Statistics—UK National Accounts—The Blue Book 2003, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House. £9.5 million of this amount was collected in EU anti-dumping duties.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has estimated how many cormorants are wintering on United Kingdom fisheries; and what percentage are of European or foreign origin. [HL1640]

We are aware that the numbers of cormorants breeding in Britain have risen over the past 25 years, particularly inland, albeit from a very low base. The number of cormorants wintering in Great Britain shows recent signs of stabilisation, following increases during the 1980s.Defra (then Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions and Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food) carried out a three-year programme of research to ascertain the impact of fish-eating birds on fisheries. The research covered the population and movement of cormorants, their feeding ecology, case studies of the impact of cormorants on fisheries and management methods. Among other things, this work concluded that cormorants were a problem for specific fisheries rather than a general problem. The results were disseminated to the angling and conservation community through a seminar in 1999. Copies of the research reports are in the Libraries of the House.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What economic value they place on bees, as pollinators. [HL1754]

The Government recognise that the UK honey bee population is an important resource for the pollination of cultivated crops and wild plants. The value of commercial crop pollination by bees has been estimated as between £120 million and £200 million per annum.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will place in the Library of the House a copy of the Forbes report into BSE, submitted by Ministers in 2000; and, if not, why not. [HL1789]

The Forbes report reviewed the criticisms of serving civil servants in the report of the BSE inquiry. Its main recommendation, that disciplinary action should not be taken against any civil servant, was reported in the Government's interim response to the BSE inquiry in February 2001. The report refers to named individuals and internal advice and it would therefore not be appropriate for disclosure under Exemptions 2 and 12 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs refused to pay interest on delayed compensation payments arising out of the banning of mink farming; and whether they will reconsider that decision. [HL1850]

We have just reached agreement with former fur farmers about the level of compensation they will receive under a new compensation scheme. The farmers have accepted that the scheme takes account of all losses suffered by them.We will shortly be consulting on a draft order that will enable us to set up the new compensation scheme.