To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will require local education authorities to implement an asthma policy; and if she will remind them of her Department's 1996 guidelines for supporting children with medical needs in schools. [56353]

We encourage all local education authorities and schools in England to have policies for supporting pupils' medical conditions, including asthma. We reminded them in the spring of the importance of following our guidelines.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how standard spending assessments for education take into account the impact of large movements of pupils with differing needs across local authority boundaries. [56355]

The current system allocates extra funding for additional needs on the basis of where pupils are educated, rather than where they live. We are currently working on a new funding system for introduction in 2003–04. Our aim is for the new system to be fairer and clearer, and justified by the educational needs of children. We want it to be child and school based, taking into account cross-LEA boundary migration.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what impact the increased national insurance contributions announced in the Budget will have on special needs schools. [56358]

The cost to all special schools in England will be around £6 million a year from 2003–04. This cost will be considered along side other priorities and pressures in the 2002 spending review.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling) of 29 April 2002, Official Report, column 571W, how much the increases in national insurance announced in the Budget will cost the average (a) primary and (b) secondary school, expressed on a cost per pupil basis. [56352]

On average, the changes will cost about £15 per primary school pupil and about £20 per secondary school pupil in England from 2003–04. These costs will be considered as part of this year's Spending Review alongside other priorities and pressures.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action she is taking to improve the quality of and resources for the Youth Service. [56359]

Under the Government's "Transforming Youth Work" agenda we will publish later this year our view of an adequate and sufficient' Youth Service. In the longer term this will be supported by the introduction of National Quality Standards, National Performance Measures, a Common Planning Framework, a new National Management Training Programme, and a Workforce Development Strategy. In addition we have provided £49 million to Youth Services over the next two years to support this agenda.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans the Government have to provide more financial support for medical students in higher education, with particular regard to graduate entrants. [56360]

There are special arrangements for both undergraduate and graduate medical students. Students on undergraduate courses pay no tuition fees in year five and later years and become eligible for means-tested NHS bursaries and reduced-rate income contingent student loans made on generous terms. Students undertaking the four year graduate entry programme have the same enhanced support in years two to four. In the other years medical students are eligible for DfES student support on the same basis as other students.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what policies are in place to tackle poor behaviour and promote discipline in schools. [56361]

We have provided extensive support to schools including funding for over 1,050 Learning Support Units for disruptive pupils, guidance on discipline and exclusion policies, and guidance on developing effective anti-bullying strategies.In addition, the £66 million made available through this year's Budget will fund a programme of focused support for schools in the 34 LEAs facing the toughest challenges of behaviour and criminality.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proposals she has to increase student funding. [56362]

Our review of student finance is still under way. We shall make an announcement on the outcome of the review when it is complete.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of money provided to schools by her Department is allocated to specific purposes and activities. [56363]

Recurrent funding for schools is channelled through local education authorities and is made up of Education Standard Spending, the Standards Fund, the Schools Standards Grant and other special grants.Education Standard Spending is the amount the Government consider appropriate for local authorities to spend on education from their total budgets and is not ring-fenced for specific purposes or activities. In addition, the School Standards Grant is paid to schools to be used by them as they wish to raise standards.LEAs and schools receive Standards Fund Grant for particular specific purposes and activities such as the literacy and numeracy strategies. Other special grants are paid to schools to support payments to teachers passing the threshold and performance pay for teachers. Schools also receive funding via education action zones for particular purposes. Taken together these account for 11.7 per cent. of recurrent education funding for LEAs and schools. Of this, around half is devolved to schools from the Standards Fund for them to spend on their own priorities within the broad objectives of the Standards Fund programme.Capital funding for schools is provided through a combination of credit approvals, Government grant, and through the Private Finance Initiative. Around 45 per cent. of capital funding is allocated for specific purposes or activities.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what extra funding she has made available to schools with classes of 8, 9 and 10-year-olds containing more than 30 children in the last 12 months. [56376]

In 2001–02 we made up to £73 million available to local education authorities to make progress on class sizes at Key Stage 2. We estimate that this has paid for around 500 additional teachers and 500 new classrooms.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the measures that she has taken to increase the number of young people taking AS and A-level mathematics. [56364]

Because post-16 education is not compulsory, the Government is not able to promote an individual subject at the expense of others. But we are keen to see that students take on a broader range of subjects, mixing science and art subjects, including mathematics. To encourage this, we have made available additional funding to schools and colleges.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the new centres of vocational excellence. [56365]

On 29 April we announced new money to fund an extra 100 centres of vocational excellence. Centres of vocational excellence will develop new, and enhance existing, excellent vocational provision which is focused on meeting the skills needs of employers, nationally, regionally and locally.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the results from the inspections of further education colleges in the last 12 months. [56366]

Of the 93 college inspections carried out to date under the new regime, results have been published for 44 colleges. There have been some good results, but there is still some way to go to achieve consistent quality.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent representations she has received about funding and other support for further education colleges. [56375]

Ministers have received extensive recent representations about funding and other support for further education. In particular, the Association of Colleges, NATFHE, the NUS and others organised a lobby of Parliament on 23 April on the issues of further education funding, pay and support. We are listening carefully to the views of those in the further education sector and will take these into account in determining how best to use the 2002 spending review settlement.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on funding for further education. [56356]

The Government are steadily increasing investment in further education. By next year funding for further education will have risen by 26 per cent. in real terms since 1997. The Learning and Skills Council's funding rates for programmes delivered by further education colleges are increasing by 2.5 per cent. above current rate of inflation for the 2002–03 academic year. Beyond this we are looking to the current spending review to deliver the resources needed to meet the Government's ambitions for further education.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on progress in the establishment of sector skills councils. [56367]

Five Trailblazer sector skills councils were announced in December 2001 covering audio visual industries, land-based industries, apparel, footwear and textiles, oil and gas extraction, chemicals manufacturing and petroleum industries and the retail sector. Four Trailblazer sector skills councils have received two-year licences, the fifth should follow shortly. The Sector Skills Development Agency is expected to call for formal expressions of interest to establish new sector skills councils in the next few weeks.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps she is taking to encourage university applications from pupils from lower socio-economic groups. [56368]

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier to my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Tony Wright).

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the number of university applications for the coming year. [56369]

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the number of university applications for the next academic year. [56374]

The latest data published by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service show that the number of applications is 1.5 per cent. higher than last year. This very welcome and indicates the strength of demand for British higher education. The 4.6 per cent. rise in applications from mature entrants is particularly welcome since we have introduced generous additional support for student parents, including a child care grant and a travel and equipment grant.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidelines she issues on ensuring that parents do not come under inappropriate pressure to enrol their children in reception classes before they are ready. [56370]

The code of practice on school admissions says that admission authorities can offer places in reception classes to parents before their children are of compulsory school age (e.g. five), but also that parents accepting the offer can ask to defer their child's entry until he or she is of compulsory school age, provided the place is taken up within the same academic year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the reasons teachers leave the profession. [56371]

The Department has commissioned Professor Alan Smithers and Dr. Pamela Robinson, from the university of Liverpool, Centre for Education and Employment Research to undertake research into this issue. The study is gathering information from a nationally representative survey of teachers leaving the profession about the factors affecting their decisions to leave teaching. The research commenced in December 2001 and we expect the report to be published in March 2003.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when she expects to announce the findings of the Government's review of higher education funding. [56372]

The Government's plans for higher education funding in England will be announced later in the year, when the present spending review is concluded.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what support her Department gives to local education authorities seeking to raise standards in meeting special educational needs. [56373]

Officials in the Department's Special Educational Needs Division support local education authorities in raising standards in meeting special educational needs through offering guidance, drawing on expertise provided by educational advisers, building consultants, members of the Office for Standards in Education, officials in other Government Departments and voluntary organisations. Education standard spending assessment support for local education authorities for 2002–03 totalled £23.68 billion, an increase of nearly £1.2 billion compared with 2001–02. By 2003–04 average recurrent funding per pupil will have increased by over £760 in real terms since 1997–98. In addition £91 million was available from the Department's Standards Fund for special educational needs for 2002–03. This represents more than a fivefold increase compared with the £17 million available in 1997–98.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children per 1,000 are issued with a statement of special needs in (a) Boston and Skegness, (b) Lincolnshire and (c) England. [56146]

The information requested is shown in the table:

Pupils with statements of special educational needs1January 2001
	Total pupils	Pupils with statements of SEN2	Number of pupils per 1,000 with a statement of SEN
Boston and Skegness parliamentary constituency3	13,005	296	22.8
Lincolnshire local education authority3	100,666	3,218	32.0
England	7,733,640	249,300	32.2

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what provision for special educational needs statementing will be in place for children in accommodation centres (a) on arrival at the accommodation centre and (b) before entering mainstream schools. [57623]

We expect the needs of most children with special educational needs to be met by the provision in the accommodation centres in the same way as in schools. Where asked by an accommodation centre to carry out a statutory assessment of a child's needs, the local education authority will consider the request in the same way as for other children and, where appropriate, will draw up a statement of special educational needs.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when she expects that the funding for students at sixth form colleges will be raised to the same level as for students in school sixth forms. [56377]

The Government have set no timetable for achieving equivalent funding between further education and sixth form colleges and school sixth forms. We have made it clear that bringing the level of funding for colleges towards that of school sixth forms can be done only as resources allow and it would be unwise to commit ourselves beyond the resources we secure. We are looking to the current spending review to provide the resources needed to deliver the Government's ambitious agenda for further education.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the total income was from student tuition fees in (a) 1996–97 and (b) each of the subsequent five financial years. [50981]

The available information is shown in the following table. Data for 2001–02 will be available in April 2003.

Total income from student tuition fees1: UK higher education institutions
£ million
Financial Year	Tuition Fee Income
1996–97	2,347
1997–98	2,469
1998–99	2,675
1999–2000	2,814
2000–01	2,997
1 Covers tuition fee income from all students (home, EU and other overseas) on full-time and part-time undergraduate and postgraduate courses, and students on non-credit-bearing courses.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of claims made by learning providers, following the closure of the Individual Learning Account scheme, have been paid; when the rest will be paid; and what factors underlie the delay in completing payments. [55981]

At the end of April, 93 per cent. of claims made by registered learning providers following the closure of the Individual Learning Account programme on 23 November 2001 had been paid.Payments are only withheld pending follow up and investigation where serious complaints from trainees have been received by the Department or where there are serious concerns about the provider's operation of the programme.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether she has been notified of closures of small firms providing learning or training following the closure of the Individual Learning Account Scheme; and if she will make a statement. [55982]

The Department has been notified of the closure of four small firms providing learning or training following the closure of the Individual Learning Account (ILA) programme. We have no information to suggest that these were directly related to the closure of the Individual Learning Account (ILA) programme.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many days of sick leave were taken in her Department last year; how many related to employees suffering (a) stress and (b) other mental health problems; and what the cost was to her Department. [56485]

[holding answer 14 May 2002]: An average of 7.7 days sick leave were taken by employees in the former Department for Education and Employment in 2000, the latest year for which this information is available. Information is not held for the other questions and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, no compensation has been paid to employees specifically for work related stress.My Department is committed to meeting targets for reducing the number of working days lost due to sickness absence generally and due to work related injuries and illness arising from the Government's revitalising health and safety initiative.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the mandate of the Socrates Committee (and Erasmus and Comenius Subcommittees) is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the UK representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if she will list the items currently under its consideration; if she will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if she will make a statement. [56717]

The purpose of the Socrates Committee is set out in the Council Decision 253/2000/EC of 24 January 2000, which established the second phase of the Socrates programme. The Socrates Committee has met formally three times over the last 12 months, with an additional informal meeting in May 2002. The sub-committees for schools and higher education have met twice each. Two officials from the UK attend the Socrates Committee meetings, and one official usually attends the sub-committee meetings. Travel expenses were met from Commission resources. The subsistence and travelling costs incurred by this Department was about £8,485.00, for the committee and sub-committee meetings over the past twelve months, of which about £4,860 was reimbursed by the Commission.The next Socrates Committee meeting will consider approval of the selection of projects for 2002–03, a discussion of the programme budget, the monitoring and evaluation of the programme, and EC and general educational initiatives impacting on the programme. The Schools sub-committee will consider the allocation of funds to the Comenius action for schools. The next meeting of the higher education sub-committee is expected to be in the autumn. An agenda will not be available until nearer the time, but it is likely to cover various aspects of Erasmus, the higher education part of the Socrates programme, and EC and general initiatives impacting on higher education.Together with member states, the Commission is currently conducting a review to bring existing legislation on the conduct of comitology committees into line with Council Decision 1999/468/EC, to "simplify the requirements for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission". As an obligation to this Decision, the Commission undertook to publish an annual report on the working of committees. The first report was deposited in the Libraries of both Houses on 26 February 2002 (Com (2001) 783 Final). As part of the review process, the UK Government have encouraged the Commission to produce and maintain an electronic database of every comitology committee, its agendas and recent actions, to be accessible through its website.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the percentage increase in funding per year per student studying applied science and technology subjects was, using 1997 as a base of 100, in each year since 1997, awarded to (a) further education colleges, (b) sixth form colleges and (c) schools with a sixth form in each year since 1997. [56168]

[holding answer 15 May 2002]: The specific information requested is not available. The table shows the overall unit of funding each year in general further education colleges and sixth form colleges as a percentage of the 1997–98 overall funding rate for general further education colleges. The year on year changes are the same for all subject areas. Information on a similar basis is not available for schools.

	General further education colleges	Sixth form colleges
1997–98	100	108.2
1998–99	101.8	104.9
1999–2000	104.3	105.4
2000–01	105.0	105.4
2001–02	106.4	106.4
2002–03	109.0	109.0

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what law enforcement agencies and prosecuting authorities designated with legislation there are within the responsibility of her Department; and what complaints procedure is available for each. [57127]

[holding answer 16 May 2002]: None.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures her Department takes to address the needs of children and young people who sexually abuse; and if she will make a statement. [57195]

Dealing with children and young people who sexually abuse requires contributions from different agencies—covering youth justice, child welfare, education and health, including child and adolescent mental health services. The response to these children and young people should take place within the framework of guidance set out in "Working Together to Safeguard Children", issued in December 1999 by the Department of Health, the Home Office and the Department for Education and Employment.The Department for Education and Skills has made available to schools on request a guidance pack entitled "Bullying: don't suffer in silence" which is intended to help Headteachers in fulfilling their duty to draw up measures to prevent all forms of bullying among pupils. The pack refers to bullying which is sexual in nature and it sets out some suggested strategies to deal with such behaviour. It also mentions that a proven sexual assault is likely to lead to the exclusion from the school of the perpetrator. However, we recognise that excluded pupils often need further help in managing their behaviour from personnel such as Education Welfare Officers or Educational Psychologists.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what mechanisms are in place for information-sharing between social services and schools regarding children and young people who sexually abuse. [58039]

[holding answer 22 May 2002]: The guidance "Working Together to Safeguard Children", issued jointly by the Home Office, the Department for Education and Skills and the Department of Health in December 1999, sets out the role of statutory agencies in responding to young abusers.In addition to collaborative working at the individual case level, there is also ongoing contact between schools, social services and criminal justice agencies at the strategic level, through local Area Child Protection Committees.All schools should be aware of local child protection policies, (as required by DfEE Circular 10–95) and should designate a member of staff to be responsible for child protection issues—including children who sexually abuse other young people. In cases of suspected abuse, the designated staff member should inform social services.To ensure that all information sharing arrangements between schools and social services complies with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998, the Circular includes a checklist provided by the then Data Protection Registrar (now the Information Commissioner).

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of young people who are profoundly deaf went into further and higher education in each of the last three years. [56491]

[holding answer 16 May 2002]: Figures for people entering further or higher education who are profoundly deaf are not available, although we can provide those recorded as having a hearing impairment.The number of people in England registered as deaf or hard of hearing with their local authority, at 31 March 2001, is 194,840. However the true number of people in England with mild, moderate, severe or profound deafness is likely to be much more and was estimated by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People in 1996 to be 7,243,000.The number of people in Further Education recorded as having a hearing impairment is not available before 2000–01. Figures for 2000–01 are as follows:

	Numbers in Further Education (FE) in England	Numbers in England recorded as having a hearing impairment as their main disability1
All ages	3,537,620	9,291
Aged 16–18 inclusive2	621,542	1,217
1 Based upon the students' own self-assessments
2 Age as at 31 August

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many days of sick leave were taken by employees in her Department in the last year for which records are available; what proportion of those were due to work-related illness or injury; and what the cost to the Department was. [56056]

[holding answer 20 May 2002]: An average of 7.7 days sick leave were taken by employees in the former Department for Education and Employment in 2000, the latest year for which this information is available. Information is not held for sick absences due to work-related illness or injury and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.During the period April 2001 to March 2002 three cases for work related illness reached final settlement at a cost of £20,318 including solicitors' fees. During the same period the Department received £3,280 back from a previous case where a claimant lost an appeal. My Department is committed to meeting targets for reducing the number of working days lost due to sickness absence as published in our Service Delivery Agreement.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many recorded truants have missed more than 33 per cent. school days in the past year, broken down by local education authority. [57953]

This level of detail is not available. Information on the number of pupils missing due to unauthorised absence is collected at school level. The number of days missed by individual pupils cannot be identified from this data.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans the Government have to make use of courses run by the dyslexia treatment centres; and what assessment she has made of the research carried out by DDAT on inner ear balance disorder and its relationship with dyslexia. [57564]

The dyslexia, dyspraxia and attention deficit (DDAT) treatment is one of a number of commercially available programmes of help designed to support children with specific learning difficulties. It is for parents, individual schools and local education authorities to decide whether a given technique has something to offer an individual child in the light of his or her particular needs. The Department has no plans to commission research into this particular technique but it is one of number of approaches assessed by Dr. Angela Fawcett of Sheffield university in her third review of dyslexia research. This may be consulted on the Department's special educational needs website.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many school exclusions of one term or more there have been in the past year, broken down by local education authority. [57954]

The available information covering permanent exclusions is shown in the table.Information on the duration of fixed period (temporary) exclusions is not collected centrally.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the numbers of pupils excluded from schools. [56347]

Only statistics on permanent exclusions from school are collected centrally. The statistical first release on exclusions published this morning shows that there were 9,210 permanent exclusions from school in England in the 2000–01 school year. Our priority now is to provide suitable full time education for permanently excluded pupils and we have a public service agreement target to ensure that all local education authorities offer this by September 2002.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will discuss with software companies whether they would be prepared to waive rights and let licences be passed from one user to another when personal computers are reconditioned or similarly second-hand and the recipients are schools and educational facilities. [57691]

My Department has regular meetings with major software suppliers and these discussions include issues related to the particular rights on licences. Our aim is to ensure that education institutions obtain best value for money, and usually the cost of licences for education is considerably lower than other market areas. It is important that schools are properly licensed, and most suppliers will offer substantial discounts to schools. This applies both to new, second hand or reconditioned computers.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, pursuant to her answer of 10 April 2002, Official Report, column 129W, what the (a) names and (b) responsibilities are of unpaid advisers who have assisted the work of her Department since June 1997 but are not included in the Cabinet Office's annual report "Task Forces, Ad Hoc Advisory Groups and Reviews 2000–01". [57033]

[holding answer 21 May 2002]: The Secretary of State has appointed Sir Cyril Taylor as her unpaid adviser for the specialist schools programme, and on sponsorship for education action zones.I apologise to the right hon. Member. Sir Cyril Taylor's name should have been included in my reply to him of 10 April 2002,

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what evaluation she has made of the value of breakfast clubs in enhancing the attendance and achievement of school pupils. [56354]

Evidence shows that out-of-school-hours study support, including breakfast clubs, can make a real difference to children's attitudes to school, attendance and attainment. Specific evaluation of breakfast clubs also points to benefits such as improved punctuality, concentration, social skills, and relationships with staff.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the impact of the establishment of the Learning and Skills Council on the funding arrangements for school sixth forms. [56357]

The Learning and Skills Council began funding LEAs for their school sixth form provision in April. Funding allocations were notified to LEAs and schools in early March. All LEAs have received their first tranche payments from the LSC.

To ask the Solicitor-General if she will examine ways of achieving more effective representation by the CPS in handling breaches of antisocial behaviour orders. [56381]

A breach of an antisocial behaviour order is a criminal offence and the CPS will prosecute when the police send them a file.Last year there were 85 prosecutions for breaches of ASBOs of which 69 resulted in a conviction.

To ask the Solicitor-General what action she has taken to introduce anti-discrimination policies within the Crown Prosecution Service. [56382]

Anti-discrimination measures already implemented include:

(1) training over 6,000 members of staff in equality and diversity, all staff have diversity objectives measured through the performance appraisal system,

(2) the appointment of 11 regional officers,

(3) campaigns on "dignity at work"

(4) a raft of community engagement initiatives across the country,

(5) all personnel procedures have been reviewed to ensure they are not discriminatory,

(6) a new complaints procedure has been written, and there is a review of 15,000 cases to see whether there are indicators of discrimination in any part of the prosecution process.

All these measures are already paying dividends: the CPS now has a representative workforce—11.6 per cent. of staff are from minority ethnic groups, this is higher than the percentage in the population. In London the figure is 30 per cent. This compares very well with other Government Departments.

To ask the Solicitor-General what arrangements she has made for the Crown Prosecution Service to support the Government's aim of reducing street crime. [56384]

The Crown Prosecution Service is committed fully to playing its part in the street crime initiative. With police it developed the Premium Service. This is designed to deliver a premium service of best practice in investigation and prosecution.The premium service targets particular crime areas and will ensure that offenders are investigated and prosecuted with skill and determination. Experienced lawyers and detectives will handle cases and they will work closely together. An extra £6 million is being allocated to the CPS to free up experienced lawyers to concentrate on this work.Key features of the Premium Service include:

To ask the Solicitor-General what steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to identify cases of witness intimidation. [56383]

The police have the primary responsibility to identify that a case involves an intimidated witness.The Crown Prosecution Service will, as part of its case review, be alert to the possibility that the case may involve an intimidated or vulnerable witness and will take the appropriate action to protect witnesses, which could include an application for the remand of the defendant in custody or for special measures to protect an intimidated witness such as the video evidence screens or clearing the public gallery.

To ask the Solicitor-General what plans she has to seek the involvement of the CPS in giving advice immediately following a death in custody. [56385]

In many cases the police already seek early legal advice from the Crown Prosecution Service during the investigation of a death in custody. The practice of the CPS giving early advice in these cases is one of the issues raised for consultation by the Attorney General in his review of the role and practices of the Crown Prosecution Service in cases arising from deaths in custody.

To ask the Solicitor-General if she will make a statement on levels of (a) reported crimes and (b) successful prosecutions brought in North Yorkshire since 1996–97. [56387]

The level of reported crime in North Yorkshire stood at 50,924 cases for the year 1996–97.The figures for 2001–02, show 59,149 cases being reported in that year.Over the last two years there has been a drop in the number of convictions with 10,801 in 2001–02.

To ask the Prime Minister what opinion polling has been carried out into the public's attitude to the euro since June 2001; what the cost has been of such polling; if he will publish the results; and if he will make a statement. [58611]

The FCO announced on 5 December 2001 the results of its opinion poll on attitudes towards the European Union and put the results in the Library of the House. The poll, carried out by ICM on behalf of the FCO, cost £28,317.50.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the Members who have requested statistical data, since 1 May 1997, on the effects of the Government's policies pertaining to their own constituency; what has been the average length of response to such parliamentary questions; what his policy is on length of response to parliamentary questions in general; what measures are taken to ensure political impartiality in such responses; and if he will make a statement. [58776]

The Government have consistently made it clear, in response to reports of the Public Administration Select Committee, and previous questions from Members of the House, that they are committed to providing prompt and accurate answers to PQs. This remains the position.Details of Members who have requested information on the effect of Government policy on their respective constituencies can be obtained from the Library of the House.Information on the response time to this sort of question is not kept centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.With regard to maintaining political impartiality in answers to PQs, the general principles which civil servants must follow are set out in the Civil Service Code, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which Northern Ireland political parties endorsed the Weston Park Agreement. [45969]

The Weston Park discussions did not result in immediate agreement between the Northern Ireland parties. Following intensive discussions there, the British and Irish Governments put a package of measures, covering all outstanding issues, to the parties on 1 August.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement about the work of the Organised Crime Task Force during the last 12 months. [59800]

The creation of the Northern Ireland Organised Crime Task Force is the manifestation of the Government's commitment to help make Northern Ireland a stable and peaceful society. A year on from the publication of the task force's first Threat Assessment and Strategy, we have seen some truly remarkable successes against organised criminals in Northern Ireland. Concerted law enforcement activity has clearly played a vital role in disrupting and fragmenting the illegal acts of the criminals.I have today arranged for copies of the publication to be placed in the Library of both Houses.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what research has been undertaken on (a) the energy attenuation features for future kinetic energy projectiles in order to reduce the severity of head injuries, (b) post-ricochet injuries and energy of baton rounds and steps that could be taken to reduce risk to non-targeted personnel from ricochets and (c) the features of a kinetic energy based system that are intrinsic to its use as a deterrent, in order to provide the analysis tools for maintaining the required performance but at a reduced risk of life-threatening injury. [17761]

I have been asked to reply as these issues relate to recommendations following an independent medical assessment of the safety of the L21A1 baton round undertaken by the Defence Scientific Advisory Council (DSAC) to my request.The assessment was completed prior to work on alternatives to the L21A1 being undertaken under the leadership of the Northern Ireland Office. This work seeks to address recommendations 69 and 70 of the Patten report. Phases 1 and 11 have been completed and publicly reported. This programme is currently assessing systems that offer potentially energy attenuating features and that will have different ricochet characteristics to L21A1. In support of this assessment the Government are undertaking a programme of trials and model development as well as recording information from L21A1 in service. These programmes therefore address energy attenuation features for kinetic energy projectiles and systems that will reduce risk from ricochet.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the present status of the provisional IRA ceasefire in relation to the theft of intelligence information from PSNI Special Branch at Castlereagh police station. [48766]

In relation to the break in at Castlereagh, the criminal investigation is continuing and the Acting Chief Constable has advised me that the PSNI are actively pursuing lines of inquiry. It would be wrong for me to make any comment which anticipated the outcome of the investigation.In relation to the status of the IRA's ceasefire, I do not believe that it is under threat.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members or employees of Her Majesty's armed forces have died by self-inflicted injuries in and around military premises in each of the past eight years, indicating (a) the date of death of each person, (b) their gender, age and ethnic origin, (c) the military premises on which the fatal incident occurred and (d) the location, date and verdict of the inquest. [56697]

Between 1 January 1993 and 14 May 2002 there have been 156 suicides among serving members of the regular armed forces. To ensure that service personnel confidentiality is not compromised, it has been necessary to group the data by year, location and age group in the following tables. Of the 156 suicides only three were female. In respect of breakdown by ethnic origin, information is only available from May 1996–64 suicides were recorded as "White" and 10 were recorded as "Unspecified".It is not possible to provide information on self inflicted deaths as the definitions used for these deaths are currently under review. They are being checked for consistency against those used in the Office of National Statistics (ONS).Information on suicides can however be provided for this period, as these are well defined.

Suicides in serving regular armed forces personnel by geographic location: 1 January 1993 to 14 May 2002
	Location
Year of death	Great Britain (4)	Northern Ireland	Germany (BAOR)	Other	Grand Total
1 January
1993	20	2	5	1	28
1994	19	3	6	2	30
1995	9	7	4	0	20
1996	16	3	2	3	24
1997	19	0	2	0	21
1998	9	0	2	0	11

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many violent incidents involving (a) injury and (b) death of Her Majesty's forces personnel stationed or present at the Deepcut barracks have been (i) reported in the past eight years to the army medical services and (ii) sent on for treatment at a local hospital; and if he will make a statement. [56698]

There have been four deaths at Deepcut resulting from gunshot wounds over the last eight years. It is not possible to provide details of the number of injuries as, due to differing reporting criteria for sickness and injuries in the past, these data are unreliable. This shortcoming is being addressed.Since 1 January 1995, 28 personnel from 25 Training Support Regiment, Royal Logistics Corps, Deepcut, have appeared before court-martial as a result of violent incidents. In addition, a further 41 soldiers have been dealt with summarily as a result of their involvement in such incidents since October 2000, the date from which central recording of summary dealing statistics began. It is not readily possible, however, to determine whether these incidents resulted in injury and/or death and, consequently, whether the Army medical services or local hospitals were involved in providing any treatment.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on his plans for the privatisation of QinetiQ. [57336]

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 March 2002, Official Report, column 314W, about the route and timing for the sale of QinetiQ. The selection process for a strategic partner for QinetiQ is now well under way with initial bids from interested parties due by 20 May. The timetable is on track to identify the preferred bidder by summer 2002 and complete the process later this year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish the information memorandum sent to potential bidders for QinetiQ; and if he will make a statement. [57796]