Written Answers of 17 December 1996

EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

  "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans"
  Mr. Derek Foster
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what costs quoted in the document, "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans", were prepared in his Department; what detailed assumptions and interpretations were provided to officials in his Department to enable preparation of each cost; and what was the total cost to public funds of preparing each estimate. [6343]

  Mrs. Gillian Shephard
  [holding answer December 2 1996]The Department for Education and Employment, in conjunction with the Treasury, prepared factual material relating to costings published in "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" numbered 32 to 53. The detailed assumptions and interpretations that were provided to officials are set out in my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary's reply to the hon. Member today. It is not normal working practice to keep a record of the time spent in providing factual information to Ministers and it is not therefore possible to offer a reliable estimate of the costs involved.

  Motivation and Achievement
  Mr. Bryan Davies
  To ask the Secretary of State of Education and Employment when she plans to establish the national advisory group on improving motivation and tackling under-achievement. [8841]

  Mr. Paice
  I regard the establishment of the advisory group as an essential first step in the development of the relaunch strategy, because I want to harness the expert advice of all our partners. I expect the group to hold its first meeting early in 1997.

  National Vocational Qualifications
  Mr. Bryan Davies
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she has made of the findings of the study "The Assessment of NVQs" by the University of Sussex institute of education. [8897]

  Mr. Paice
  The author of the report, Professor Eraut, accepted the invitation of the National Council for Vocational Qualification to address its NVQ policy committee on 5 December to discuss his report. The council will take those findings into account when revising the requirements for NVQs. The research raised important questions about the difficulties of assessment in NVQs, particularly when it occurs away from the job, but it also showed that very few practitioners wanted to go back to the old patterns of training and assessment.

  Stammering
  Sir David Steel
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will provide financial support for the distribution of the British Stammering Association teachers' video pack to schools nationwide. [8913]

  Mrs. Gillan
  The Department made a major contribution to the costs of producing the video. We have assisted the British Stammering Association with the distribution of copies to local education authorities. We shall be advertising the video in "Schools Update", a departmental publication which goes to every school in England.

  Teachers (Early Retirement)
  Mr. Peter Bottomley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement on the timetable and consultation procedure on proposals to modify the arrangements for meeting the pension costs of early retirement for teachers in maintained and in independent schools. [9303]

  Mrs. Gillan
  The proposals were issued for consultation on 22 October 1996, with a closing date for responses of 17 January 1997. My right hon. Friend will take final decisions after that date.

  Mr. Bottomley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will estimate the increase in contingent liabilities for trustees of schools administered by charities following the proposed modification of funding arrangements for early retirement pensions for teachers. [9304]

  Mrs. Gillan
  My right hon. Friend does not expect there to be an increase in contingent liabilities following the proposed reforms of premature retirement arrangements for teachers. Independent schools make their own decisions on premature retirement. The ongoing pension costs they will incur for premature retirements granted after 1 April 1997 will be liabilities, but they will not be contingent.

  Standard Spending Assessments
  Mr. Pike
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) which local education authorities in the current year are budgeted to spend at or below the education standard spending assessment level; [9186]

  (2) if she will list the local education authorities that have budgeted to spend over their education standard spending assessment level in the current financial year, indicating the percentage of excess expenditure planned in each case. [9185]

  Mr. Robin Squire
  The following table shows each local education authority's education standard spending assessment and education budget for 1996–97, and the percentage difference.

  Education SSAs and budgets 1996–97

  LEA

  1996–97 SSA £million

  1996–97 Budget £million

  1996–97 Difference Per cent.

  City of London

  0.759

  3.085

  306.6

  Kensington and Chelsea

  34.193

  48.214

  41.0

  Westminster

  58.134

  72.585

  24.9

  483

  Education SSAs and budgets 1996–97

  LEA

  1996–97 SSA £million

  1996–97 Budget £million

  1996–97 Difference Per cent.

  Bristol

  119.870

  140.36

  17.1

  North Lincolnshire

  56.381

  65.589

  16.3

  Hammersmith and Fulham

  56.047

  64.419

  14.9

  Bath and North-east Somerset

  54.404

  62.446

  14.8

  Newcastle-upon-Tyne

  99.652

  112.479

  12.9

  North Somerset

  58.642

  65.949

  12.5

  Hackney

  92.084

  102.717

  11.5

  South Gloucestershire

  78.677

  87.726

  11.5

  East Riding

  102.954

  114.234

  11.0

  Bury

  61.635

  68.308

  10.8

  Gateshead

  70.844

  78.423

  10.7

  St. Helens

  66.604

  73.701

  10.7

  Coventry

  119.872

  132.425

  10.5

  Harrow

  72.990

  80.432

  10.2

  Salford

  82.496

  90.705

  10.0

  Leeds

  252.509

  277.521

  9.9

  Lambeth

  100.826

  110.569

  9.7

  Isles of Scilly

  1.233

  1.348

  9.3

  Wolverhampton

  99.898

  109.18

  9.3

  Solihull

  73.069

  79.732

  9.1

  Kirklees

  141.523

  153.676

  8.6

  Haringey

  93.427

  101.424

  8.6

  Richmond-upon-Thames

  45.854

  49.779

  8.6

  Sandwell

  118.096

  128.118

  8.5

  Croydon

  118.396

  128.375

  8.4

  Norfolk

  243.384

  263.296

  8.2

  Barnet

  117.029

  126.56

  8.1

  Tower Hamlets

  122.839

  132.482

  7.8

  Dudley

  104.158

  112.232

  7.8

  Lincolnshire

  213.026

  228.873

  7.4

  Stockport

  89.804

  96.405

  7.4

  Oldham

  94.759

  101.526

  7.1

  Wigan

  110.133

  117.974

  7.1

  Barking and Dagenham

  69.879

  74.848

  7.1

  North Yorkshire

  185.854

  198.947

  7.0

  Cumbria

  170.602

  182.085

  6.7

  Camden

  78.312

  83.467

  6.6

  Walsall

  108.588

  115.647

  6.5

  Wandsworth

  86.304

  91.601

  6.1

  Lancashire

  510.448

  541.678

  6.1

  Cheshire

  348.970

  369.25

  5.8

  Birmingham

  448.721

  474.736

  5.8

  Sefton

  106.847

  113.041

  5.8

  Trafford

  76.735

  80.994

  5.6

  Suffolk

  217.470

  229.341

  5.5

  Derbyshire

  319.922

  335.955

  5.0

  Bolton

  100.891

  105.938

  5.0

  Wiltshire

  197.517

  207.308

  5.0

  Somerset

  150.908

  158.312

  4.9

  East Sussex

  219.761

  230.305

  4.8

  North Tyneside

  68.757

  72.034

  4.8

  Nottinghamshire

  365.135

  382.423

  4.7

  Northumberland

  113.513

  118.872

  4.7

  Surrey

  307.474

  321.961

  4.7

  Hampshire

  525.153

  548.077

  4.4

  Warwickshire

  164.025

  170.672

  4.1

  Leicestershire

  333.840

  345.657

  3.5

  Lewisham

  108.942

  112.709

  3.5

  Southwark

  109.297

  113.071

  3.5

  Kingston-on-Hull

  102.701

  106.112

  3.3

  Isle of Wight

  45.138

  46.618

  3.3

  Greenwich

  114.263

  117.975

  3.2

  Cambridgeshire

  237.278

  244.971

  3.2

  Shropshire

  145.332

  149.995

  3.2

  Ealing

  112.151

  115.671

  3.1

  Wakefield

  111.605

  115.098

  3.1

  Durham

  216.644

  223.37

  3.1

  Islington

  81.095

  83.6

  3.1

  Kingston-upon-Thames

  47.066

  48.482

  3.0

  York

  52.793

  54.249

  2.8

  Enfield

  117.827

  121.052

  2.7

  Hertfordshire

  387.245

  397.772

  2.7

  Tameside

  80.591

  82.671

  2.6

  Staffordshire

  366.019

  375.302

  2.5

  Rochdale

  82.736

  84.829

  2.5

  484

  Education SSAs and budgets 1996–97

  LEA

  1996–97 SSA £million

  1996–97 Budget £million

  1996–97 Difference Per cent.

  West Sussex

  235.410

  241.273

  2.5

  Calderdale

  77.167

  78.992

  2.4

  Bromley

  103.845

  106.244

  2.3

  Northamptonshire

  222.270

  227.12

  2.2

  Dorset

  207.427

  211.929

  2.2

  South Tyneside

  59.030

  60.301

  2.2

  Merton

  58.096

  59.309

  2.1

  Waltham Forest

  97.421

  99.416

  2.0

  Sutton

  67.782

  69.116

  2.0

  Doncaster

  119.680

  121.6

  1.6

  Oxfordshire

  192.571

  195.19

  1.4

  Essex

  566.981

  573.518

  1.2

  Liverpool

  209.232

  211.492

  1.1

  Redbridge

  98.258

  99.055

  0.8

  Kent

  581.733

  584.829

  0.5

  Gloucestershire

  183.797

  184.761

  0.5

  Buckinghamshire

  252.855

  254.076

  0.5

  Wirral

  132.298

  132.773

  0.4

  Devon

  345.862

  346.134

  0.1

  Cornwall

  164.930

  164.914

  0.0

  Hereford and Worcester

  229.005

  228.907

  0.0

  Bedfordshire

  220.156

  219.921

  -0.1

  Hartlepool

  37.013

  36.944

  -0.2

  Rotherham

  102.425

  102.173

  -0.2

  Havering

  87.183

  86.864

  -0.4

  Hillingdon

  93.797

  93.427

  -0.4

  Sheffield

  170.970

  170.18

  -0.5

  Knowsley

  73.138

  72.785

  -0.5

  Manchester

  188.261

  186.917

  -0.7

  Hounslow

  94.807

  94.071

  -0.8

  Middlesbrough

  61.491

  60.996

  -0.8

  Stockton-on-Tees

  71.747

  71.094

  -0.9

  Sunderland

  114.863

  113.582

  -1.1

  Barnsley

  76.867

  75.887

  -1.3

  Bradford

  209.868

  205.955

  -1.9

  Redcar and Cleveland

  59.590

  58.348

  -2.1

  North-east Lincolnshire

  64.840

  63.069

  -2.7

  Berkshire

  282.308

  274.143

  -2.9

  Bexley

  88.646

  85.177

  -3.9

  Brent

  109.692

  103.504

  -5.6

  Newham

  130.381

  121.028

  -7.2

  Total

  17,764.2

  18,476.577

  4.0

  Learning Difficulties
  Mr. Faber
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will use the introduction of mandatory baseline assessment to provide effective screening for children at risk of literacy and numeracy difficulties. [9496]

  Mrs. Gillan
  I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Sir J. Hannam) on 3 December 1996,Official Report, column 611.

  Schools (Ethnic Minorities)
  Mr. Blunkett
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how she plans to monitor ethnic minority achievement through the national curriculum. [8811]

  Mrs. Gillan
  As I announced on 5 September, we propose to use the baseline statistics on the ethnic composition of each school, which we will be collecting through the annual schools census, as a basis for considering ways of monitoring ethnic minority pupils' progress through national curriculum assessment. We aim to consult on these in due course.
  485
  Mr. Blunkett
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) if she will list this new arrangements for collecting baseline statistics on the ethnic composition of schools; [8812]

  (2) when she plans to introduce the collection of baseline statistics on the ethnic composition of schools. [8813]

  Mrs. Gillan
  We included two new questions in the 1996 schools census covering (i) the total number of minority ethnic pupils, and (ii) the total number of pupils for whom English is a second language, in each school. For the 1997 schools census, we will include a more detailed count of the number of pupils in each ethnic group for the school as a whole, and a separate count, in secondary schools only, of the number of pupils aged 15 in each ethnic group at the start of the academic year.

  Mr. Blunkett
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when the School Curriculum Assessment Authority and the National Council for Vocational Qualifications will report their recommendations on how best to introduce ethnic monitoring for post-16 qualifications. [8814]

  Mrs. Gillan
  Current plans are that SCAA and NCVQ will provide advice to Ministers on the data collection recommendations in Sir Ron Dearing's report on 16 to 19 qualifications by May 1997.

  Legislation
  Mrs. Roche
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many items of legislation relating to her Department have been repealed since January 1994; how many statutory instruments were introduced during the same period; and how many of the latter were(a) deregulatory and (b) fee orders. [9373]

  Mr. Robin Squire
  I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster today.

  Personal Services Industry
  Mr. Ian McCartney
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will place in the Library a copy of the existing guidance, covering the acceptance of job advertisements by jobcentres; if the jobs on offer require the applicant to work as a model, or in(a) a sauna bath, (b) a massage parlour, (c) an escort agency and (d) a kissogram agency. [9613]

  Mr. Forth
  Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

  Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Ian McCartney, dated 17 December 1996:
  The Secretary of State for Education and Employment has asked me to write to you about your request that the Employment Service's existing guidance covering vacancies for employment as a model, in a sauna bath, a massage parlour, an escort agency or a kissogram agency be placed in the Library. This falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of the Agency.
  The information requested is contained in the Guide to Job Broking volume 1 and I am arranging for a copy to be placed in the Library. The relevant instructions are contained in chapter 3, paragraphs 186 to 202.
  486
  In the light of recent events the Secretary of State has asked for this present guidance to be reviewed. This work is in hand and, subject to legal advice, should shortly be available. I will arrange for the new guidance to be sent to you and to be placed in the Library.
  I hope this is helpful.

  Schools (Performance)
  Dr. Spink
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when assessment she has made of the relative performance of grant-maintained and local authority schools. [9786]

  Mr. Forth
  The 1996 school performance tables show that 50 per cent. of pupils in grant-maintained schools achieved five or more good GCSE passes, compared with 41 per cent. of pupils in LEA schools. There was almost no difference in the performance of pupils in selective schools in the two sectors, but 46 per cent. of pupils in GM comprehensive schools achieved five or more good GCSE passes compared with 40 per cent. in LEA schools. Analysis of the GCSE performance tables from 1992 to 1996 shows that GM schools have made rather more progress than comparable LEA schools in raising standards year on year. In the 1996 national curriculum assessments for 7, 11 and 14-year-olds, a higher proportion of pupils in GM schools reached or exceeded the expected levels of performance at each key stage. Details are set out in the following tables:

  Table 1: Percentage of 15-year-old pupils achieving graded GCSE results in 1996

  Grades (per cent.)

  Grades (per cent.)

  Grades (per cent.)

  1A: all schools

  GCSE passes

  5+ A*-C

  5+ A*-G

  1+ A-G

  LEA schools

  40.6 per cent.

  87.1 per cent.

  93.4 per cent.

  GM schools

  50.1 per cent.

  91.1 per cent.

  95.3 per cent.

  1B: comprehensive schools only

  GCSE passes

  5+ A*-C

  5+ A*-G

  1+ A-G

  LEA comprehensives

  40.0 per cent.

  87.0 per cent.

  93.3 per cent.

  GM comprehensives

  46.4 per cent.

  91.1 per cent.

  95.6 per cent.

  Table 2: time series comparison of LEA maintained schools with schools which became grant-maintained on or before 1 September 1992

  Percentage of pupils achieving 5+ A-C GCSEs in 1992

  Percentage of pupils achieving 5+ A*-C GCSEs in 1996

  Percentage point increase 1996 over 1992

  LEA

  Selective

  maintained

  Non-selective

  89.2

  93.4

  4.2

  schools

  32.2

  38.3

  6.1

  GM schools

  Selective

  89.3

  94.6

  5.3

  Non-selective

  37.5

  45.6

  8.1

  Table 3: Percentage of seven-year-old pupils achieving national curriculum level 2 and above

  Key stage 1

  English

  Mathematics

  Science

  1TA

  1Test

  TA

  Test

  TA

  Test

  LEA schools

  79

  —

  82

  82

  84

  —

  Reading

  78

  78

  Writing

  76

  80

  487

  Table 3: Percentage of seven-year-old pupils achieving national curriculum level 2 and above

  Key stage 1

  English

  Mathematics

  Science

  1TA

  1Test

  TA

  Test

  TA

  Test

  Speaking and listening

  82

  GM schools

  85

  —

  86

  87

  88

  —

  Reading

  84

  84

  Writing

  82

  85

  Speaking and listening

  85

  —

  Note:

  1TA = teacher assessment, Test = national test.

  Table 4: Percentage of 11-year-old pupils achieving national curriculum level 4 and above

  English

  Mathematics

  Science

  Key stage 2

  TA

  Test

  TA

  Test

  TA

  Test

  LEA schools

  60

  57

  60

  54

  65

  62

  GM schools

  64

  63

  65

  60

  69

  68

  Table 5: Percentage of 14-year-old pupils achieving national curriculum level 5 and above

  English

  Mathematics

  Science

  Key stage 3

  TA

  Test

  TA

  Test

  TA

  Test

  LEA schools

  60

  56

  61

  56

  59

  55

  GM schools

  68

  65

  69

  65

  68

  65

  Work Accidents (Cost)
  Mr. Kirkwood
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate she has made of the cost to the economy of accidents at work in each year since 1990; and if she will make a statement. [9442]

  Sir Paul Beresford
  I have been asked to reply.

  The Health and Safety Executive estimates that the total cost to the economy of work accidents, including preventable damage-only accidents, and work-related ill health was between £6 billion and £12 billion in 1990.

  The next updating of these costs by the Health and Safety Executive will be in 1998. The updating will cover costs for 1995–96, on which the necessary data will be compiled from the Labour Force Survey.

  Building Research Establishment
  Mr. Dalyell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment which projects that the Building Research Establishment is currently undertaking will cease on privatisation. [9391]

  Mr. Robert B. Jones
  I have been asked to reply.

  I do not anticipate that any projects will cease as a result of privatisation.

OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION

  Belize
  Dr. Lynne Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy that no British funds or loans will be disbursed for the paving of the Belize southern highway until the 488
  necessary social and environmental safeguards for the protection of the rainforest and the Maya peoples of Toledo district are in place. [9509]

  Dr. Liam Fox
  Our appraisal of the Belize southern highway project will take fully into account the social and environmental impact of paving the road before a decision is made on Britain's financial contribution.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

  Tea Room
  Mr. Campbell-Savours
  To ask the Chairman of the Catering Committee (1) what was the total number of supervisors and managers responsible for the supervision of services provided by the House of Commons Tea Room in each year from 1990 to 1995; [9020]

  (2) what was the total wage bill of the kitchen and counter staff in the House of Commons Tea Room in each year from 1990 to 1995; [9024]

  (3) how many management and supervisory staff are planned to be responsible for the House of Commons Tea Room when all facilities are fully operational; [9028]

  (4) how many counter and kitchen staff were in attendance over a full working week in the House of Commons Tea Room in each year from 1990 to 1995; [9018]

  (5) how many House of Commons Tea Room staff have had their working hours reduced in the past six months; [9026]

  (6) what was the total number of hours worked by counter and kitchen staff in the House of Commons Tea Room in each year from 1990 to 1995; [9019]

  (7) how many counter and kitchen staff are planned to be in attendance over a full working week in the House of Commons Tea Room when all facilities are operational. [9027]

  Sir Colin Shepherd
  These are matters for the Director of Catering Services. I have asked her to write to the hon. Gentleman.

  Mr. Campbell-Savours
  To ask the Chairman of the Catering Committee what consultations took place with hon. Members prior to introducing the most recent changes in the House of Commons Tea Room. [9022]

  Sir Colin Shepherd
  Between 3 March and 5 May 1993, as part of its inquiry into refreshment services for the House of Commons, the Catering Committee took formal oral evidence from the hon. Members for Warrington, North (Mr. Hoyle), for Wolverhampton, South-East (Mr. Turner) and for Burnley (Mr. Pike), on behalf of the parliamentary Labour party, from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Mr. Kaufman) and from the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood). The evidence from these hon. Members included comments on the Members' Tea Room.

  Written submissions, dealing in part with the Members' Tea Room, were also received from the hon. Members for Clydesdale (Mr. Hood), for Wrexham (Dr. Marek) and for Reading, West (Sir A. Durant).
  489
  These submissions were received in response to a notice inserted in the "All Party Notices," inviting comments from all hon. Members on the various aspects of the proposed refurbishment of Refreshment Department outlets and premises.

  Mr. Campbell-Savours
  To ask the Chairman of the Catering Committee if he will place in the Library copies of the consultation documents relating to organisational changes in the Tea Room. [9023]

  Sir Colin Shepherd
  I refer the hon. Gentleman to the First Report from the Catering Committee, Session (1993–94), HC (1993–94) 75–I and—II, which includes relevant documentation.

  Mr. Campbell-Savours
  To ask the Chairman of the Catering Committee what was the total capital cost of those changes to the House of Commons Tea Room introduced in 1996. [9021]

  Sir Colin Shepherd
  The refurbishment of the Tea Room was carried out in conjunction with the construction of the new Terrace cafeteria kitchen, which also serves the Tea Room. It is not, therefore, possible to allocate the costs of the various elements of the project meaningfully between the two areas.

  Mr. Campbell-Savours
  To ask the Chairman of the Catering Committee what estimate he has made of the average amount of time it will take an average customer in the House of Commons Tea Room to be served hot food when all facilities are fully operational. [9029]

  Sir Colin Shepherd
  As the new service has been in operation for less than two weeks, it is not possible at this stage to forecast the average time that it might take for a customer to be served hot food. I have, however, requested the Director of Catering Services to monitor the time taken to serve hon. Members; the Catering Committee will, of course, continue to keep the matter under review.

  Mr. Campbell-Savours
  To ask the Chairman of the Catering Committee what surveys he intends to undertake on customer attitudes to the changes introduced in the House of Commons Tea Room over the last 12 months. [9030]

  Sir Colin Shepherd
  The Catering Committee is keeping the matter under constant review through informal consultation with hon. Members, scrutiny of the comments book in the Members' Tea Room and through discussions with the Director of Catering Services. Any formal survey would be conducted by the management of the Refreshment Department, and although I am not aware of any such plans at present, the Department has conducted annual in-depth surveys in June or July in each of the last three years.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

  Legislation
  Mrs. Roche
  To ask the Attorney-General how many items of legislation relating to his Department have been repealed since January 1994; how many statutory 490
  instruments were introduced during the same period; and how many of the latter were (a) deregulatory and (b) fee orders. [9368]

  The Attorney-General
  I refer to the hon. Member to the answer given today by my hon. Friend the Paymaster General.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

  "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans"
  Mr. Derek Foster
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what costs quoted in the document, "New labour's Public Expenditure Plans", were prepared in his Department; what detailed assumptions and interpretations were provided to officials in his Department to enable preparation of each cost; and what was the total cost to public funds of preparing each estimate. [6351]

  Mr. Hanley
  This Department, in conjunction with the Treasury, prepared factual material relating to costings published in "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" numbered 1, 2, 3 and 86. The detailed assumptions and interpretations that were provided to officials were set out in my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary's reply to the hon. Member of today. It is not the normal working practice to keep a record of the time spent in providing factual information to Ministers and it is not therefore possible to offer a reliable estimate of costs involved.

  Hong Kong Governor
  Mr. Cox
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what allowances are paid to the Governor of Hong Kong; and how they are treated for tax purposes. [9141]

  Mr. Hanley
  The Governor, like his predecessors, receives entertainment, education and leave allowances from the Hong Kong Government. These allowances are not subject to Hong Kong tax.

  Mr. Cox
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the current salary paid to the Governor of Hong Kong; and what tax treatment applies to that salary. [9142]

  Mr. Hanley
  The Governor's current salary, paid by the Hong Kong Government, is HK$3,036,000 per annum, equivalent to about £237,000 at present exchange rates. This figure is set at 125 per cent. of the Hong Kong Chief Secretary's salary. The Governor's salary, like that of his predecessors, is not subject to Hong Kong tax. An independent review of the Governor's salary and tax position was commissioned in 1993, which recommended that there should be no change in the calculation of his salary or in its tax free status.

  Children (Payment of Airfares)
  Sir Alan Haselhurst
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many children under the age of 16 years had air fares subsidised(a) wholly and (b) partly by reason of their relationship to service personnel and employees of his Department for travel between the United Kingdom and (i) other EU

  491
  states and (ii) non-EU states in the last year for which information is available; and what was the total cost of the subsidy. [9321]

  Mr Hanley
  This Department does not distinguish by age between children in receipt of children's concessionary journeys. Officers serving overseas may claim the whole cost of no more than:three journeys a year for children in primary or secondary boarding school education;
  two journeys a year for unmarried children studying full-time for their first degree at university or college provided they have taken no more than one year away from full-time education;
  one journey a year for unmarried children under 21 who are unemployed or undergoing vocational training.

  In 1995–96, the last full year for which figures are available, this Department—diplomatic wing and Overseas Development Administration—paid for 145 air fares in respect of 120 children to EU countries, and for 1,091 air fares in respect of 728 children to non-EU countries. Total expenditure was £1,009,109.

  Hong Kong (Contracts)
  Mr. Byers
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those major contracts which will straddle the transition in Hong Kong which have been considered by the Sino-British joint liaison group, the date of their award, the successful contractor and the approximate value of the contract. [9607)

  Mr. Hanley
  The Sino-British joint liaison group has discussed a large number of contracts and franchises which will straddle the transition. These include contracts on infrastructure development such as for the new airport, and the provision of power and transport services. I will write to the hon. Member with a full list of the contracts, and, where known, the dates of their award, the name of the successful contractors, and the value of each contract. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

NATIONAL HERITAGE

  National Lottery (Northern Ireland)
  Ms Mowlam
  To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will list(a) the number of projects in Northern Ireland which have been given funding by the Millennium Commission and (b) the number of projects from Northern Ireland which are currently under consideration by the Millennium Commission. [3841]

  Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
  This is a matter for the Millennium Commission. I shall write to the hon. Member in my capacity as chairman of the commission and place copies of my reply in the Libraries of the House.

  "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans"
  Mr. Derek Foster
  To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what costs quoted in the document, "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans", were prepared in his Department; what detailed assumptions and interpretations were provided to officials in his 492
  Department to enable preparation of each cost; and what was the total cost to public funds of preparing each estimate. [6344]

  Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
  The Department of National Heritage, in conjunction with the Treasury, prepared factual material relating to costings published in "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" numbered 54 and 55. The detailed assumptions and interpretations that were provided to officials are set out in my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary's reply to the hon. Member of today. It is not the normal working practice to keep a record of the time spent in providing factual information to Ministers.

DUCHY OF LANCASTER

  Web Site
  Mr. Gordon Prentice
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to open his own web site. [9438]

  The Deputy Prime Minister
  The matter is under consideration.

  Legislation
  Mrs. Roche
  To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many items of legislation relating to his Department have been repealed since January 1994; how many statutory instruments were introduced during the same period; and how many of the latter were(a) deregulatory and (b) fee orders. [9374]

  Mr. Bates
  An analysis of new regulations introduced by all Departments during 1994 and 1995 is given in the table. By the end of 1996 the total number of deregulatory orders will have risen to 1,000. Comprehensive information about the number of other regulations is only gathered after the end of the year. A fuller analysis of regulations made during 1996 will be carried out as soon as the necessary information is available from HMSO and will be provided to the hon. Member.

  1994

  1995

  Deregulatory measures

  218

  151

  NHS Trusts

  269

  176

  Fees and local provisions

  188

  152

  EU and international obligations

  151

  140

  Other (possible impact on business)

  141

  93

  Other (no impact on business)

  500

  692

  Commencement orders, Orders in Council and others not subject to Parliamentary procedures

  1,867

  1,963

  A list of regulations repealed or amended since 1993 under the Government's deregulation initiative as at April 1996 was placed in the House Libraries in May. A revised list of the 1,000 regulations repealed or amended by the end of December will be published early in the new year.

  No. 2 Marsham Street
  Mr. Harry Greenway
  To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a progress report on the future of No. 2 Marsham street. [8126]
  493
  Mr. Freeman
  Responsibility for the use of No. 2 Marsham street has been delegated under the terms of its framework document to the Property Advisers to the Civil Estate under its chief executive, Mr. Neil Borrett. The agency is therefore responding to the question.

  Letter from N. E. Borrett to Mr. Harry Greenaway, dated 13 December 1996:
  The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has asked me to write to you in response to your Parliamentary Question regarding the future of 2 Marsham Street.
  The decision to demolish 2 Marsham Street was announced by the Secretary of State for the Environment in February 1992. The current occupants, the Department of the Environment, are to relocate to Ashdown House and Eland House in Victoria following the completion of fitting out works now in progress. These moves are likely to be completed around Easter 1997. The other occupants of 2 Marsham Street, the Department of Transport, were successfully relocated to Great Minster House in 1995.
  An international urban design competition was held earlier this year to produce designs which will guide the master planning for the future redevelopment of the site. Entrants were asked to submit designs which promoted a mixture of uses, make effective use of the available space and related well with the site's urban context. The results of the competition were announced by the Deputy Prime Minister in October. Work is planned to start on the demolition of 2 Marsham Street in April 1997 and to be completed in the Autumn of 1998, following which the site will be redeveloped for Government use if there is a requirement or sold.

TREASURY

  "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans"
  Mr. Derek Foster
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what interpretations or assumptions were made in costing the spending commitments described as having been made by the Labour party in the document, "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans"; and if the same interpretations and assumptions were adopted by each Government Department. [6338]

  Mr. Waldegrave
  The interpretations and assumptions identified by Ministers, assisted by their special advisers, are set out for each costing. These interpretations and assumptions were used by all Government Departments. In addition, general guidance was provided as set out in my separate written answer of today. Final responsibility for the judgments made in the document "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" rests with Treasury Ministers.

  FOREIGN OFFICE

  1. Increase Overseas Aid
  The cost of restoring the Overseas Aid budget to the same percentage of GDP as in 1979.

  2. Reverse cuts in the World Service and British Council
  The cost of restoring funding to the BBC World Service and the British Council to the level in 1995–96 in real terms.

  3. Rejoin UNESCO
  The cost of rejoining UNESCO.

  MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE FISHERIES AND FOOD

  4. Introduce an early retirement scheme for farmers
  The cost of the United Kingdom taking up the CAP early retirement scheme, assuming a 25 per cent take up amongst eligible farmers.

  5. Increase the number of state vets
  The cost of employing the same number of veterinary staff as in 1979.
  494
  6. Create more Environmentally Sensitive Areas
  The cost of a 10 per cent. increase in the current provision for ESAs.

  DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY

  7. Establish Regional Development Agencies in England

  The cost of:
  8 English regional development agencies each with an annual administrative cost equivalent to that of the Welsh Development Agency.

  The RSA budget to be increased overall so that England receives as generous a sum in relation to its proportion of total UK unemployment as the average of the Scottish and Welsh take.

  8. Establish a Business Development Bank

  The cost of a Business Development Bank on the same basis as the proposal from the Union of Independent Companies in 1993.

  9. Introduce New Technology Trusts
  Assume that the "trusts" provide more subsidy for R&D—about £15 million—less the costs of the existing Innovation Counsellors included in Business Links.

  10. Introduce a Venture Capital Guarantee Scheme
  The cost of a 10 per cent. increase in the Loan Guarantee Scheme.

  88. Implement the Parental Leave Directive
  The cost to the public sector of implementing the parental leave directive.

  DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT

  11. Restore public ownership of the railways
  The cost of a complete takeover of Railtrack by the Government assuming a 30 per cent. premium over the market price and external financing requirements to service debt and take account of forward investment plans.

  12. Provide new investment in railway safety

  The cost of:

  1. Installation, operation and maintenance of Automatic Train Protection

  2. Replacing 25 per cent. of carriages.

  13. Build more high speed rail links
  The cost of modernising the Great Western line (which runs from London to Cardiff) based on the CBI's estimate for electrification in their report "Winning Ways", 18 July 1996.
  The cost of modernising the London to Norwich line and the Bristol to Penzance lines based on the cost per mile of modernising the East Coast Main Line at 1996–97 prices.

  14. Reduce bus and rail fares in London

  The cost of:
  A 10 per cent. reduction in LT fares.
  A 10 per cent. reduction in NSE fares.

  15. Provide more investment in buses
  The cost of an increase of 10 per cent. in Government support for local bus services.

  16. Reduce freight track access charges
  The cost of a 20 per cent. reduction in freight track access charges on the assumption that Railtrack has been renationalised.

  17. Invest in a network of freight terminals
  The cost of doubling the existing 5 Channel Tunnel freight terminals.

  DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT

  18. Increase spending on house building
  The increase in public spending if the stock of set aside receipts are released over five years and no set aside applies to new receipts.
  495
  19. Return business rates to local control
  That in each year from 1997–98 to 2001–02, councils will choose to increase net revenue spending by 1 per cent. more than it would otherwise have been increased.
  That the increase will be financed by additional increases in council tax and business rates, and that the percentage increase in each will be the same.
  That the reserve powers to cap which Labour propose to retain would only bite on the dozen or so highest spenders, and so would only minimally affect overall spending.

  20. End Council Tax capping
  That in each year from 1997–98 to 2001–02, councils will choose to increase net revenue spending by 1 per cent. more than it would otherwise have been increased.
  That the increase will be financed by additional increases in council tax and business rates, and that the percentage increase in each will be the same.
  That the reserve powers to cap which Labour propose to retain would only bite on the dozen or so highest spenders, and so would only minimally affect overall spending.

  21. Set up mortgage rescue scheme
  The cost of providing extra grant to housing associations to enable them to buy up the property of people facing repossession. However, assume that only half choose to take advantage of the scheme.

  22. End CCT in local government
  The loss of expected future savings made from Compulsory Competitive tendering in local government.

  23. Establish English Regional Assemblies
  The cost of nine regional chambers with 50 members on average allowances of £2,500 and 50 support staff with average staff costs of £40,000 (including premises costs).

  24. Establish a London authority

  The cost of a strategic authority with:

  1. 64 councillors.

  2. A referendum.

  3. Elections every 4 years.

  HOME OFFICE

  25. Establish a network of women's refuges
  The cost of a network of women's refuges based on the following assumptions:

  1. Refuge services cost £12,000 to £13,000 per family per annum (Women's Aid Federation report published in 1994).

  2. One off Capital costs per refuge between £34,000 to £52,000 (London Housing Unit Report).

  3. An extra 2,000 family bedspaces estimated on the basis of a recommendation by the Home Affairs Select Committee.

  26. End the privatisation of prisons

  The cost of:

  1. Returning the four private sector prisons to the public sector.

  2. Ending the contracting out of education.

  3. Ending the contracting out of IT.

  4. Ending the contracting out of seven court escort areas.

  5. Returning the DCMF prisons to the public sector.

  6. Ending market testing in the Home Office.

  89. Provide referendums on voting reform and a Scottish Parliament

  The cost of:

  (A) a UK wide referendum; and

  (B) a referendum in Scotland.

  496
  LEGAL DEPARTMENTS

  27. Improve access to Legal Aid
  The cost of reinstating the changes in eligibility since 1992.

  28. Reform the Crown Prosecution Service
  The additional costs associated with providing staff for each of the 43 police areas.

  29. Establish a community legal service
  The additional cost of employing the equivalent of 1½ salaried lawyers in each of the Citizens' Advice Bureaux, assuming some savings in the legal aid budget.

  30. Change the design of court buildings
  The cost of refurbishing Crown Courts and the larger magistrates courts, which have not already provided separate waiting facilities for witnesses and victims.

  31. Introduce fast track sentencing for persistent young offenders
  The cost of fast track sentencing for persistent young offenders.

  DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

  32. Introduce sabbaticals for teachers
  The cost of teachers with 10 years' service taking one sabbatical of one third of a year and the cost of teachers with 15 years or more service taking one sabbatical of a full year.

  33. Introduce a new student loans scheme
  The additional cost of extending student loans to cover the maintenance grant and to include fees and maintenance of part-time Higher Education students, assuming that the number of students entering Higher Education is not affected and that loan take up also remains unchanged (at 75 per cent.).

  34. Double the number of students in higher education
  The fifth year cost of a programme to steadily increase student numbers that would, after 20 years, have doubled the (percentage) participation rate among young people in full-time higher education.

  35. Expand post-16 education
  The additional cost of all 16 and 17 year olds who are currently not in any education staying on in full-time education in secondary schools.

  36. Create a nursery place for every 3 year old
  The cost of providing a nursery place for every 3 year old assuming that the voucher mechanism is used, that the value of the voucher is the same as for four year olds and the funding can be clawed back from local authorities in the same way as for 4-year olds.

  37. Provide access to a lap top computer for every child
  The cost of supplying one new lap top computer for 1 in 3 primary pupils over 8 years old and 1 in 3 secondary pupils if the computers cost about £1,000 each.

  38. Increase capital spending on schools
  The cost of increasing capital spending by £3.2 billion over 10 years by allowing schools to borrow the money from the banks, without taking account of interest rates.

  39. Cable up every school-the cost of computer equipment and training

  1. The cost of providing multimedia computers and Internet links to all schools assuming that BT pay the line, connection and on-line costs.

  2. The additional cost of 2½ days training per teacher.

  3. Assume that in secondary schools there would need to be one multimedia PC for every 10 pupils which would need to be networked throughout the school. In addition there would be one room with 30 PCs in each school. One in ten of the new computers would be connected to a good quality printer and to the Internet via an ISDN line. Each primary school would have one multimedia PC in each classroom with an extra three in each school, e.g. for the library. One computer in each school would be linked to the Internet.

  497
  40. Introduce a literacy guarantee at age 7
  The cost of reintroducing the Reading Recovery Programme and extending it nationally.

  41. Reduce class sizes for 5, 6 and 7 year olds

  1. The cost of reducing class sizes to 30 or under for 5, 6 and 7 year olds.

  2. Take a mid-point estimate of the range of possible costs.

  42. Provide better teacher training
  The cost of one day's extra training and supply cover per year for each teacher in maintained schools.

  43. Establish intensive literacy summer schools

  1. 300,000 pupils attend a 3 weeks summer school each year.

  2. Pupils are taught in groups of 10 for 3 hours each day.

  3. The cost of overheads is calculated in the same way as the ratio of overheads to teachers' salaries in LEA spending on schools.

  4. Teachers can be recruited at the standard term-time supply rates.

  44. Take steps to tackle youth employment

  1. Each unemployed person receives on average £60 per week in benefits.

  2. Each person offered a placement accepts it and completes a full six months.

  3. 5 per cent. of participants leave the count and incur no further costs, 60 per cent. of those remaining receive wage subsidies, 20 per cent. enter training, 10 per cent. enter a placement with the voluntary sector and 10 per cent. with the Environmental task force.

  4. It costs £2,000 to provide a placement in the voluntary or environmental task force—in line with the former Community Action Programme—and to fund a place in education/training.

  45. Introduce a £75/week incentive for the long term unemployed
  The cost of a £75 a week incentive which lasts 26 weeks for those unemployed over two years assuming no increase in the number of people getting work.

  48. Re-establish the Community Action Programme
  The cost of re-establishing the Community Action programme at its 1995–96 level.

  49. Provide extra support to redundant workers
  The cost of giving everyone who becomes redundant and joins the claimant count a place on Job Search Plus, as a replacement to the existing Job Search Plus scheme.

  50. Provide better careers advice
  The cost of 2 per cent. of the employed population having a full interview with a trained careers officer and a booklet.

  51. Establish a University for Industry
  The cost of an initial intake of 30,000 students based on the costs of the Open University.

  52. Make the Re-Employment service available to non-working women
  The cost of providing access to the Employment Service on a voluntary basis to non-working women who are not registered unemployed.

  53. provide job advocates for the long term unemployed
  The cost of extending the current "1–2–1" scheme to all people over 25 who complete one year in unemployment.

  DEPARTMENT FOR NATIONAL HERITAGE

  54. Introduce a national network of Millennium Volunteers
  The cost of giving 100,000 young people each year a place as a Millennium Volunteer on the same basis as the Environmental Task Force, being paid the equivalent of benefit (£60/week) plus £20. Also assume that it costs an extra £2,000 to provide each place, in line with the costs of the former Community Action Programme.
  498
  55. Abolish admission charges to national museums
  The cost of ending admission charges to museums and galleries funded by the Department of National Heritage.

  56. Abolish the internal market in the NHS
  The cost of abolishing the internal market in the NHS assuming that the average annual efficiency gain returned to the level before the reforms.

  57. Withdraw PEI from the NHS
  The cost of replacing private sector spending on Department of Health capital projects with public sector spending.

  58. Introduce GP commissioning
  The net cost of introducing GP commissioning and abolishing GP fundholding.

  59. Increase spending on community care
  The cost of £135 million extra spending on community care in 1993 upraled to 1996–97 prices.

  60. Reintroduce a regional health structure
  The cost of reintroducing the old Regional Health Authorities.

  62. End CCT in the NHS
  The loss of savings from compulsory competitive tendering in the NHS.

  63. Phase out private provision from the NHS The loss of net income generated by pay beds.

  DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SECURITY

  64. Reduce the benefit tapers

  The cost of
  1. (A) a reduction in the Family Credit taper from 70 per cent. to 40 per cent.
  (B) a reduction in the Housing Benefit taper from 65 per cent. to 40 per cent.

  and
  2. (A) a reduction in the Family Credit taper from 70 per cent. to 30 per cent
  (B) a reduction in the Housing Benefit taper from 65 per cent. to 30 per cent.

  65. Introduce a Pension Entitlement/Minimum Guaranteed Income for Pensioners
  1. The cost of a 100 per cent. take up of Income Support and the abolition of all capital rules, except those in Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, with a 100 per cent. taper.

  and
  2. A Minimum Guaranteed Income for pensioners set at £80/week with a 100 per cent. taper.

  66. Abolish the "16 hour rule"

  1. The cost of making any student other than those undertaking full-time courses in higher education eligible for JSA.

  2. Take a mid-point estimate of the range of costs.

  67. Allow local benefit decisions

  1. The cost of paying 500,000 unemployed claimants a year their income from JSA 6 months in advance.

  2. In 20 per cent. of cases, this money has to be repaid again since it is lost by the recipient.

  68. Abolish the Jobseeker's Allowance
  The cost of abolition of the JSA.

  69. Introduce a maintenance disregard against Income Support
  The cost of a £20 maintenance disregard against Income Support.

  70. Allow an Income Support carry over
  Assume that anyone unemployed for 6 months or more and in receipt of means-tested JSA will receive payments at the same rate for four weeks after taking a job.
  499
  71. Provide work help for lone parents

  The cost of:

  (a) giving Lone parents on Family Credit free school meals.

  (b) giving Lone parents on Family Credit a £10 per week disregard for work related expenses.

  72. Increase the take up of Family Credit
  An increase in the take up of Family Credit to 96 per cent.

  73. Introduce a JET scheme
  The cost of a JET scheme for lone parents similar to the Australian JET scheme.

  74. Encourage those on benefit to do voluntary work
  The cost of 1 in 12 unemployed people doing voluntary work assuming that they stay on benefit for four weeks longer than they would otherwise have done.

  75. Introduce a Disabled Rights Bill
  The cost of a Disability Rights Commission plus the cost to:

  (A) reduce from 20 to 5 the number of employees used to define those small employers exempt from the DDA's employment rights.

  (B) extend the DDA to cover those wrongly perceived to have a substantial disability.

  76. Allow unemployed people to borrow against future earnings

  1. The cost of giving 50 per cent. of people on JSA for over a year a £300 loan.

  2. In 20 per cent. of those cases the money is not repaid. In the remaining 80 per cent. of cases, the money is repaid over an average 2 year period.

  77. Introduce budgeting loans for the low paid

  1. The cost of extending the Social Fund to Family Credit recipients.

  2. Assume that 30 per cent. of households on Family Credit use the fund each year.

  78. Introduce Income Support protection
  The cost of providing an automatic re-entitlement to Income Support at the claimant's previous rate if the job ends within six months.

  79. Introduce an income disregard for the wives of unemployed men
  The cost of allowing any couple, in which one member of the couple declares themselves to be unemployed, to disregard an extra £5 in earnings in addition to the existing £10 disregard.

  80. Increase the disregard in the JSA
  The cost of doubling the disregard in JSA to £10 a week.

  APPENDIX 1. Introduce a flexible decade of retirement
  The cost of a full basic pension payable from the age of 60 assuming that the same percentage of eligible people claim the pension from the new state pension age as currently do so.

  SCOTTISH OFFICE

  81. Increase tree cover
  The cost of extending tree cover by 50 per cent. by 2010.

  82. Establish a Scottish Parliament
  The cost of the level of provision planned by the then Government in the run up to 1979, taking account of the Scottish Constitutional Convention proposals published in 1995.

  83. End the sale of Forestry Commission land
  The loss of expected receipts from the sale of Forestry Commission land.

  TREASURY

  85. Introduce a National Minimum Wage

  The estimated gross increase in the public sector pay bill assuming a Minimum Wage set at £4.00 per hour with a 50 per cent. restoration of differentials across the entire earnings distribution, using the 1995 New Earnings Survey.
  500
  87. Increase funding on Trans European Networks
  The cost of the European Commission's recent proposal to increase spending on TENs.
  In the case of the following costings Treasury Ministers accepted Labour's own estimate of the costs:

  46. Broaden the take up of Investors in People

  47. Introduce Learn as you Earn Smartcards

  61. Cut waiting lists

  In the case of No. 84, "Establish a Welsh Assembly", the estimate was made by the Secretary of State for Wales.
  In the case of No. 86, "Establish a European Recovery Fund", Treasury Ministers took the figure of about £11 billion, the approximate UK share of a proposal for a European Recovery Fund which was supported by Labour MEPs in the European Parliament, and scaled this back to produce a costing of £250 million a year over five years.

  Mr. Foster
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what guidance was given to civil servants in respect of assembling the factual material to facilitate the costings of the public expenditure commitments described as having been made by the Labour party in terms of territorial. bases, price level and first or four-year commitment, including possible overlaps and other similar costings. [6339]

  Mr. Waldegrave
  The costings were conducted in accordance with the guidance on costing Opposition policy which was published as a memorandum submitted by the Cabinet Secretary to the Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee in March 1990, reproduced in "Guidance on Guidance: An index of Useful Documents" issued in February 1996 and available in the Library of the House. In addition, Ministers provided the following general framework to civil servants in respect of assembling the factual material.

  GUIDANCE ON COSTINGS

  Introduction
  This note explains the basis on which proposals should be costed. It is important that all proposals are costed on a consistent basis.
  2. There may be some proposals for which a costing consistent with this guidance would be inappropriate. In such cases, please contact the Special Adviser to the Chief Secretary to agree an alternative basis.

  Which year?
  3. Policy proposals which involve an ongoing annual cost should be costed in year 5, in 1996–97 prices.
  4. Where year 5 gives a misleading impression of the cost—because the cost builds up rapidly after that, or is much higher before year 5, that should be indicated separately.

  One-off costs
  5. All costs are annual costs. Where proposals involve a one-off cost—such as the purchase of shares in a privatised industry—it should be marked clearly as a one-off cost in 1996–97 prices. That cost will be assumed to be spread over the 5 years of the Parliament (that is, a fifth of the one-off cost will be added to the annual cost in year 5).

  Changes from plans
  6. The costs should be expressed in terms of changes from current policies assuming that none of the other proposals to be costed are implemented. They should be defined as additions to GGE (broadly, central and local government spending including support for public corporations). The costs need not distinguish spending inside and outside the Control Total.
  501
  Revenue effects
  7. Only the effects on General Government Expenditure should be included. If there are additional offsetting effects on revenues or on public corporations' borrowing, these should he identified separately, but not included in the costings.

  Offsetting changes in expenditure
  8. If a proposal would automatically and intrinsically lead to an offsetting reduction to spending elsewhere—such as benefit savings from putting unemployed people into a training programme—the proposal should be shown net of any changes to other spending programmes.

  Phased costs
  9. If a proposal is to "phase in" a policy then it should be assumed that this will be phased in over 5 years.
  10. Policies which would be implemented only "as far and as fast as resources allow" should not be phased in, but calculated as if they were implemented immediately.

  Behavioural effects
  11. Behavioural effects should not he included unless they are intrinsic to the proposal. For example, the cost of allowing local authorities to spend capital receipts should not assume that capital disposals will increase. However, the cost of lifting capping would include an assumption that some local authorities would increase spending above their existing capping limits.

  Prices
  12. All costings should be shown in 1996–97 prices.
  13. If it is necessary to assume a price level to calculate the costing, it should be assumed that prices will grow by 2 per cent. a year from 1997–98.
  14. If other macroeconomic assumptions are required, they should be consistent with the 1996–97 FSBR. If assumptions are required that are not included in the FSBR, they should be agreed with the Chief Secretary's Special Adviser.

  EU-related costs
  15. Any proposal involving expenditure from the European Union budget should take account of the effect on the overall level of the EU Budget, the UK contribution and the abatement. Please discuss any costings involving European Union expenditure with the Chief Secretary's Special Adviser.

  Territorial consequentials
  16. The costings should include any consequentials in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland of policy changes in England. In the case of Social Security costings, there is a separate page to add in the costs of pledges for Northern Ireland. If you need assistance calculating these, please contact the Chief Secretary's Special Adviser.

  Mr. Foster
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was(a) the cost to his Department and (b) the overall cost of the exercise to cost the spending commitments described as having been made by the Labour party in the document "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans", published on 20 November. [6336]

  Mr. Waldegrave
  It is not the normal working practice to keep a record of the time spent in providing factual information to Ministers and it is not therefore possible to offer a reliable estimate of the costs involved.

  Mr. Foster
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what scrutiny over the exercise to cost what were termed Labour party public expenditure commitments was carried out by the Treasury; and what criteria were used when checking consistency with other available estimates of the costs. [6340]

  Mr. Waldegrave
  The exercise was carried out in accordance with the published guidance on the procedure for costing policies of opposition parties. Treasury 502
  Ministers, assisted by their special advisers, in conjunction with Ministers and special advisers from other Departments, were responsible for identifying the text of commitments together with any further interpretations or assumptions necessary to allow the commitments to be costed. Treasury officials, in conjunction with officials from other Departments, were responsible for providing factual material. Final responsibility for the judgments made in the document "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" rests with Treasury Ministers.

  Mr. Foster
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if(a) Ministers, (b) their special advisers and (c) civil servants, identified the text of spending commitments described as having been made by the Labour party in the document "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans", published on 20 November. [6337]

  Mr. Waldegrave
  In accordance with the guidance, Ministers and their special advisers identified the text of commitments. To the best of my knowledge, civil servants other than special advisers did not identify the text of the commitments.

  Mr. Foster
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to what extent the factual material provided by civil servants for preparation of the document "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" was altered by Ministers or special advisers; and what guidance was given about reconciling differences in costings. [6341]

  Mr. Waldegrave
  The costings published in "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" are consistent with the factual material provided by civil servants on the basis of assumptions made by Ministers.

  In one case—the cost of establishing the Welsh Assembly—the estimate was made by the Secretary of State for Wales. In two cases—the cost of reducing benefit tapers and the introduction of a maintenance disregard against income support—the figures were calculated in cash terms rather than in real terms. Consequently these figures should have been slightly lower than quoted in the document. The figure for benefit tapers should have been £1.8 billion rather than £2.0 billion and the figure for the maintenance disregard against income support should have been £180 million rather than £200 million. In another case, namely the cost of an increase in funding on trans-European networks, the figure was calculated in ecus rather than in pounds. The annual cost should therefore have been £20 million rather than £27 million.

  Unemployment
  Mr. Austin Mitchell
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of people out of work in the European Union as a whole on the basis of(a) benefit claimant count, (b) International Labour Organisation definitions and (c) the labour force survey definition. [7233]

  Mrs. Angela Knight
  The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
  503
  Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Austin Mitchell, dated 17 December 1996:
  The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as the Director of the Office for National Statistics to your recent question on the level of unemployment in the European Union.
  Most European Union countries produce on administrative-based and a survey-based measure of unemployment. The benefit claimant count is the administrative measure of unemployment that applies to the United Kingdom. Because the administrative definitions of unemployment differ form country to country, the Office for National Statistics does not compile EU unemployment totals on this basis.
  The Statistical office of the European Community (SOEC) published ILO based levels of unemployment derived from the Labour Force Surveys of its member countries. The latest figures from this source show that in spring 1995 there were 17.8 million people unemployed in the European Union.
  SOEC also produce a monthly estimate of the level of ILO unemployment in the EU. These estimates are based on results from the spring 1995 Labour Force Surveys which are extrapolated to monthly (or quarterly) administrative unemployment statistics. The most recent estimate gives a figure of 18.1 million people ILO unemployed in September 1996.
  Enclosed for your information is the latest edition of the booklet How Exactly is Unemployment Measured?, copies of which are also available in the House of Commons Library.

  Mr. Milburn
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many claimants have been recorded as experiencing at least one spell of unemployment in each jobcentre area since April 1992; [8304]

  (2) how many claimants have been recorded as experiencing at least one spell of unemployment in Darlington since April 1992. [8305]

  Mrs. Angela Knight
  [holding answer 10 December 1996]The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

  Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Alan Milburn, dated 17 December 1996:
  The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as the Director of the Office for National Statistics to your recent question on how many claimants have experienced at least one spell of claimant unemployment in each Jobcentre area, in particular the Darlington area, since April 1992.
  Information for each Jobcentre area could only be provided at disproportionate cost. However, since 1 April 1992, an estimated 20,760 claimants have experienced at least one spell of claimant unemployment at the Darlington Employment Service Jobcentre.

  Economic and Finance Council
  Mr. Llew Smith
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer to the hon. member for Southport (Mr. Banks) of 4 December,Official Report, column 648–49, on the Ecofin of 2 December, what matters were put to the vote; how the United Kingdom voted; and if he will place in the Library all documents tabled at the meeting. [8608]

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  None of the items on the main agenda for the Ecofin Council of 2 December were put to the vote. No papers were tabled at the meeting, but as I noted in my answer of 4 December, several papers were discussed. A number of "A" points were also agreed at the meeting without, in line with normal practice, a formal vote on them being taken. Details of these points are given 504
  in the Council secretariat press release, document 12212/96, which will be placed in the House as soon as it is available. All the papers considered at Ecofin which were eligible for scrutiny have been deposited with the House.

  Employment (York)
  Mr. Bayley
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will name the jobcentres within the York travel-to-work area; and if he will list the number of people in(a) full-time and (b) part-time employment in the York travel-to-work area (i) in April 1992 and (ii) currently. [8531]

  Mrs. Angela Knight
  The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

  Letter from Tim Holt to Mr Hugh Bayley, dated 17 December 1996:
  The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as the Director of the Office for National Statistic to your recent question on jobcentres and the number of people in full-time and part-time employment in the York travel-to-work area.
  There are to jobcentres in the York travel-to-work area. They are Clifford Street and Stonebow. The available information showing the levels of employment in the York travel-to-work area is for employees and is at September 1991 and September 1993. This is shown in the table below.

  Employees in the York travel-to-work area: at September

  Full-time

  Part-time

  All

  1991

  64,200

  27,900

  92,100

  1993

  62,400

  28,800

  91,200

  Source:

  Census of employment, ONS.

  Food Poisoning
  Mr. Etherington
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of days at work which were lost in 1995 due to food poisoning from(a) salmonella, (b) campylobacter, (c) listeria, (d) E. coli 0157 and (e) other causes; and if he will make a statement. [9139]

  Mrs. Angela Knight
  The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

  Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Bill Etherington, dated 17 December 1996:
  The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as the Director of the Office for National Statistics to your recent question on estimates of the number of days lost due to different types of food poisoning.
  This information is not available. The Labour Force Survey collects information on sickness absence, but does not ask respondents about the diagnosis of the cause of their sickness absence.

  Running and Operating Costs Limits
  Mr. Matthew Banks
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the final outturn for 1995–96 for(a) each running costs limit and (b) the Ministry of Defence's operating costs limit. [9743]

  Mr. Waldegrave
  The final outturn for 1995–96 for each running costs limit and the Ministry of Defence's operating costs limit are shown in the table.

  £000

  Gross running costs limits

  Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Diplomatic Wing)

  505,913

  Overseas Development Administration

  71,790

  Intervention Board Executive Agency

  32,377

  Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

  309,252

  Department of Trade and Industry

  350,826

  Office of Fair Trading

  18,446

  Office of Telecommunications

  9,092

  Office of Gas Supply

  8,374

  Office of Electricity Regulation

  10,694

  Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service

  22,253

  Department of Transport

  395,188

  Office of Passenger Rail Franchising

  5,908

  Office of the Rail Regulator

  8,520

  Department of the Environment

  215,492

  Health and Safety Commission

  167,369

  Property Holdings

  17,891

  PSA Services

  36,238

  Office of Water Services

  8,893

  Home Office

  1,717,998

  Charity Commission

  21,356

  Lord Chancellor's Department

  430,943

  Northern Ireland Court Service

  17,898

  Public Record Office

  26,396

  Crown Prosecution Service

  223,890

  Serious Fraud Office

  10,285

  Treasury Solicitor's Department

  26,873

  Crown Office

  35,394

  Department for Education and Employment

  1,338,297

  Office of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England

  28,471

  Department of National Heritage

  28,097

  Office of the National Lottery

  2,061

  Department of Health

  228,270

  Office of Population Censuses and Surveys

  46,908

  Department of Social Security

  3,039,069

  Scottish Office

  325,177

  Scottish Courts Administration

  40,846

  Scottish Record Office

  5,151

  General Register Office for Scotland

  7,217

  Welsh Office

  74,983

  Office of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in Wales

  3,374

  Northern Ireland

  773,734

  HM Treasury

  58,559

  HM Customs and Excise

  746,035

  Inland Revenue

  1,664,518

  Department for National Savings

  190,100

  Registry of Friendly Societies

  7,861

  National Investment and Loans Office

  1,217

  Central Statistical Office

  58,473

  Office of Public Service

  76,837

  Cabinet Office: Other Services

  41,935

  Security and Intelligence Services

  402,314

  Privy Council Office

  2,752

  Net running costs limits

  Wilton Park (FCO)

  692

  ADAS Agency (MAFF)

  8,716

  Central Science Laboratory (MAFF)

  0

  Central Veterinary Laboratory (MAFF)

  -7

  Veterinary Medicines Directorate (MAFF)

  0

  Central Services (DTI)

  0

  Laboratory of the Government Chemist (DTI)

  0

  National Engineering Laboratory (DTI)

  2

  National Physical Laboratory (DTI)

  0

  506

  £000

  Radiocommunications Agency (DTI)

  0

  Vehicle Certification Agency (DoT)

  0

  Transport Research Laboratory (DoT)

  0

  QE II Conference Centre (PH)

  5,630

  Building Research Establishment (DOE)

  0

  Ordnance Survey

  11,692

  Forensic Science Service (HO)

  144

  Historic Royal Palaces Agency (DNH)

  0

  NHS Estates Agency (DH)

  0

  Social Survey Division (OPCS)

  476

  Information Techonology Services Agency (DSS)

  0

  Resisters of Scotland

  0

  Valuation Office (IR)

  1,619

  Paymaster Agency

  0

  Government Actuary's Department

  600

  Civil Service College (OPS)

  -455

  Security Facilities Executive (OPS)

  3,707

  Driver and Vehicle Testing Agency (NI)

  -168

  Operating costs

  Ministry of Defence

  16,476,988

  Payment Performance
  Mr. Spring
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he proposes to publish the league table of Departments' payment performance as announced in the Government response to the "Your Business Matters" conferences. [9949]

  Mrs. Angela Knight
  Departments' performance in paying invoices within the agreed credit terms, or 30 days where no such terms exist, for the period 1 June to 31 August 1996 are contained in the following table:

  Per cent.

  National Investment and Loans Office

  100.0

  Office of Electricity Regulation

  100.0

  Privy Council Office

  100.0

  Defence Bills Agency

  99.7

  Department of National Savings

  99.6

  HM Land Registry

  99.6

  Office of Passenger Rail Franchising

  99.5

  Office of the Rail Regulator

  99.0

  Office for National Statistics

  98.6

  Exports Credit Guarantee Department

  98.3

  Office of the National Lottery

  98.2

  Office of Fair Trading

  98.0

  Department of Trade and Industry

  97.7

  Crown Prosecution Service

  96.8

  Registry of Friendly Societies

  96.8

  Office of Water Supply

  96.4

  Public Records Office

  96.2

  Health and Safety Executive

  95.8

  Office of Telecommunications

  95.5

  Department for Education and Employment

  95.3

  Registers of Scotland

  95.3

  Paymaster General

  95.2

  HM Treasury

  95.1

  Government Actuary's Department

  95.0

  Ordnance Survey

  95.0

  Scottish Office

  95.0

  Welsh Office

  94.7

  Northern Ireland Departments

  94.0

  Department of Social Security

  94.0

  Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers

  93.9

  Foreign and Commonwealth Office

  93.8

  Home Office

  93.3

  Royal Mint

  93.0

  Inland Revenue

  92.5

  Treasury Solicitors

  92.2

  507

  Per cent.

  Department of the Environment

  92.0

  Lord Chancellor's Department

  91.8

  Overseas Development Admin.

  91.6

  Crown Office Scotland

  91.5

  Forestry Commission

  91.1

  Department of Health

  89.3

  Charity Commissioners

  89.0

  Serious Fraud Office

  89.0

  Department of Transport

  87.8

  Intervention Board

  87.0

  Cabinet Office

  86.9

  National Heritage

  84.9

  HM Customs and Excise

  84.0

  Office of Gas Supply

  83.8

  Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food

  80.4

  Paracetamol
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of deaths in the past seven years in which(a) paracetamol was the only drug involved and (b) paracetamol was one of the drugs involved. [7508]

  Mrs. Angela Knight
  [holding answer 9 December 1996]The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

  Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 17 December 1996:
  The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as the Director of the Office for National Statistics to your recent question on how many deaths over the past seven years resulted from (a) paracetamol as the only drug and (b) paracetamol as one of the drugs involved
  The number of deaths associated with paracetamol reported to ONS over the past three years are shown in the attached table. The data for 1989 to 1992 are published, for each year separately, in Table 10 of Mortality statistics: injury and poisoning, England and Wales, series DH4, Nos. 16–18, copies of which are available in the House of Commons Library.
  The figures in brackets indicate the number of deaths with a mention of alcohol. These bracketed figures are already included in the unbracketed data and should not, therefore, be added to them.

  Deaths from paracetamol in England and Wales 1993–95

  1993

  1994

  1995

  Death by poisoning—accident

  Paracetamol only

  44 (9)

  40 (10)

  41 (6)

  Paracetamol with other drugs1

  42(18)

  54(16)

  70(21)

  Total

  86(27)

  94(26)

  111(27)

  Deaths by poisoning—suicide

  Paracetamol only

  67 (7)

  68 (5)

  77 (2)

  Paracetamol with other drugs1

  169(35)

  144(20)

  162(17)

  Total

  236(42)

  212(25)

  239(19)

  Deaths by poisoning—undetermined

  Paracetamol only

  62 (6)

  52 (5)

  72 (1)

  Paracetamol with other drugs1

  68(19)

  95(22)

  146(29)

  Total

  130(25)

  147(27)

  218(30)

  1 These include deaths from paracetamol-containing compounds.

  Aspirin
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many deaths have occurred, in the most recent five-year period for which statistics are available, as a result of the use of aspirin or aspirin-based products. [7500]

  Mrs. Angela Knight
  [holding answer 9 December 1996]The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

  Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 17 December 1996:
  The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as the Director of the Office for National statistics to your recent question on how many deaths occurred as a result of using aspirin or aspirin-based products.
  The table below sets out the numbers of deaths which were certified as due to salicylates (aspirin and related compounds) in the years 1991 to 1995. It includes deaths due to poisoning', and to adverse effects' of salicylates in normal use as underlying or secondary cause of death.

  Deaths from Salicvlates in England and Wales, 1991–95

  Year

  Poisoning

  Adverse effects

  1991

  51

  4

  1992

  46

  1

  1993

  46

  4

  1994

  36

  2

  1995

  31

  6

  1 International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision code 965.1

  2International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision code E935.1

  Hypothermia
  Mr. Jim Cunningham
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many pensioners have died in each year since 1992 as a result of hypothermia(a) nationally and (b) in the west midlands; and what was the percentage change from the previous year in each case. [7694]

  Mrs. Angela Knight
  [holding answer 9 December 1996]The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

  Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Jim Cunningham, dated 17 December 1996:
  The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as the Director of the Office for National Statistics to your recent question on how many pensioners died as a result of hypothermia (a) nationally (b) in the West Midlands; and the percentage change from the previous year.
  The figures are shown in the table below.

  Numbers of deaths with a mention of hypothermia in males aged 65 years and over and females aged 60 years and over

  Year

  England and Wales

  Percentage change

  West Midlands1

  Percentage change

  1992

  282

  -34

  28

  -49

  1993

  352

  25

  38

  36

  1994

  291

  -17

  31

  -18

  1995

  287

  -1

  36

  16

  1. International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, code 991.6.

  1 Health Region of residence.

  Fixed Capital Formation
  Mr. Milburn
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what factors underlie his forecast in table 3.3 of the Red Book about growth in 1997 of gross domestic fixed capital formation in private dwellings and land. [8278]

  Mr. Waldegrave
  [holding answer 9 December 1996]Housing investment is expected to respond to the recovery in the housing market. This recovery is now well established. In the third quarter of this year the number of mortgage loans approved by banks and building societies was up by 28 per cent. on a year earlier, and in the three months to October turnover—as measured by particulars delivered at the Land Registry—was up by 19 per cent. on a year earlier. House prices in November were more than 7 per cent. higher than a year earlier. Housing starts have picked up in recent months, and this should be reflected in rising housing investment in 1997.

  Self-assessment
  Mr. Milburn
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list(a) how much has been spent on advertising and (b) how many inquiries have been received regarding the introduction of self-assessment; and in each case what were his initial estimates. [8274]

  Mr. Jack
  [holding answer 9 December 1996]So far, £13,365,724 has been spent on advertising and publicity support material for the self-assessment public information campaign. In total 368,563 people have sought further information by telephoning the information line, or by sending a in a coupon for press advertising. Initial estimates for the campaign budget were £25 million over three years and we remain within that budget. The number of responses to the information line have been three times greater than was originally estimated.

  Public Appointments
  Mr. Milburn
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of the individuals appointed by his Department to public positions in the last year were first identified by the public appointments unit. [8551]

  Mrs. Angela Knight
  [holding answer 10 December 1996]The Chancellor's Departments and agencies appointed 13 individuals to public positions in the last year from names first identified by the public appointments unit.

  Income Tax (Personal Allowance)
  Mr. Welsh
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the cost of increasing personal allowance on income tax to(a) £4,000, (b) £5,000, (c) £6,000, (d) £7,000 and (e) £8,000 in Scotland based on 1996–97 prices for each year from 1996–97 to 1999–2000; and in each case how many taxpayers would be removed from income tax altogether. [9079]

  Mr. Jack
  [holding answer 13 December 1996]It is not possible to provide a reliable breakdown below United Kingdom level for 1996–97. The latest available information is for 1994–95. The full-year cost of increasing the non-aged personal allowance in Scotland under the 1994–95 tax regime and at 1994–95 income levels is given in the table below. The numbers of taxpayers removed from income tax are also shown.510

  Increase non-aged personal allowance in Scotland from £3,445 to:

  Full year cost (£million)

  Number of taxpayers taken out of income tax (thousands)

  £4,000

  290

  100

  £5,000

  770

  260

  £6,000

  1,200

  400

  £7,000

  1,700

  540

  £8,000

  2,100

  710

  Inflation
  Sir John Stanley
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the annual rate of inflation in April of (i) 1993, (ii) 1994, (iii) 1995 and (iv) 1996. [9133]

  Mrs. Angela Knight
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]The annual rate of inflation—measured by the retail prices index excluding mortgage interest payments—in April 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996 was 2.9 per cent. 2.3 per cent. 2.6 per cent. and 2.9 per cent. respectively.

  Private Finance Initiative
  Mr. Timms
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) which of the projects in the list entitled "Agreed Private Finance Initiative Projects" as of 26 November 1996, issued by the private finance unit, are signed projects; [9327]

  (2) if he will make a statement on (a) the cash sum attached to and (b) the projected duration of each project in the list entitled, "Agreed Private Finance Initiative Projects" as of 26 November 1996, issued by the private finance unit; [9329]

  (3) if he will place a copy of the list entitled "Agreed Private Finance Initiative Projects" as of 26 November 1996, issued by the private finance unit, in the Library; and if he will place updated lists in the Library on a monthly basis; [9328]

  (4) to whom (a) the list, "Agreed Private Finance Initiative Projects" as of 26 November 1996, issued by private finance unit, and (b) predecessor versions of the list have been issued; and if he will place a copy of the list in the Library. [9326]

  Mr. Jack
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]Of the projects listed in the document dated 26 November, Departments advised the Treasury that those which are signed are as follows;

  Signed

  Dartford Bridge

  Second Severn Bridge

  Skye Bridge

  Heathrow Express

  Royal Armouries

  NIRS2

  Northern Line Trains

  Greenwich Accommodation

  LISA IT project

  Bridgend Prison

  CTRL

  A69

  511

  A419

  M1-A1

  A1(M)

  Waltham Forest HAT

  German White Vehicles

  Fazakerley Prison

  A50

  Immigration IT

  OSIRIS (IT)

  BA/POCL

  A30

  University Hospital Wales

  MOD Handling Vehicles

  TAFMIS IT

  RAF White Vehicles

  Naval Recruitment and Training

  Lewisham DLR

  M40

  A19

  Lowdham Grange Prison

  Croydon Tramlink

  Norfolk and Norwich Hospital

  The list of 26 November represents a snapshot of significant PFI projects that individual departments have drawn to the attention of the Treasury's PFU. It was designed to provide an indication of the main areas of PH activity, and may not be fully comprehensive. However I will arrange for a copy to be placed in the Library. I will arrange for similar updated lists to be placed there on a quarterly basis which reflects the regularity with which this information is now collected. However, primary responsibility for detailed project, or sector specific, information remains with individual Departments.

  The cash sums alongside each project represents each Department's estimate on 26 November of expected capital investment associated with that particular project. The projected duration of each individual contract is not held centrally.

  The list is available on request form the Treasury PFU and forms part of an information pack which is sent to people expressing a general interest in PFI. The list is updated from time to time. A previous version was included in the press pack accompanying the recent private finance panel conference.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT

  Legislation
  Mrs. Roche
  To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many items of legislation relating to his Department have been repealed since January 1994; how many statutory instruments were introduced during the same period; and how many of the latter were(a) deregulatory and (b) fee orders. [9364]

  Mr. Streeter
  I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today by my hon. Friend the Paymaster General.

  Judges (Performance Tables)
  Mr. Patten
  To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will publish performance tables giving the number of cases heard by each judge in England and the number of occasions on which each judge had their decisions overturned on appeal. [9576]

  Mr. Streeter
  The question concerns a matter which has been assigned to the Court Service under the terms of its framework document. I have therefore asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.

  Letter from M. D. Huebner to Mr. John Patten, dated 17 December 1996:
  The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, has asked me to reply to your Question about the number of cases heard by each judge in England and the number of judges' decision overturned on appeal.
  These figures are not held centrally and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

TRANSPORT

  "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans"
  Mr. Derek Foster
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what costs quoted in the document, "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans," were prepared in his Department; what detailed assumptions and interpretations were provided to officials in his Department to enable preparation of each cost; and what was the total cost to public funds of preparing each estimate. [6350]

  Sir George Young
  The Department of Transport, in conjunction with the Treasury, prepared factual material relating to costings published in "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" numbered 11 to 17. The detailed assumptions and interpretations that were provided to officials are set out in my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary's answer to the hon. Member today. It is not the normal working practice to keep a record of the time spent preparing factual information to Ministers and it is not therefore possible to offer a reliable estimate of the costs involved.

  A13
  Ms Hodge
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what is the(a) design life span and (b) functional life of the Movers Lane bridge on the A13; [8060]

  (2) when he expects the Renwick Road junction improvements on the A13 (i) will be started and (ii) completed; [8064]

  (3) what is the annual daily flow of vehicles using the A13 this year and in each of the previous five years; [8054]

  (4) what has been the cost of tendering the DBFO—design, build, finance and operate—improvements for the Roding Bridge and Movers Lane junctions on the A13; [8058]

  (5) when and for what reasons the decision was taken not to build the proposed underpass for the junction of Movers Lane/River Road on the A13; [8062]
  513
  (6) how many accidents have occurred in each of the last five years on (i) the Lodge Avenue flyover on the A13 and (ii) the Movers Lane/River Road flyover on the A13;

  (7) when the current traffic restrictions on the River Roding bridge and on the Movers Lane/River road on the A 13 will be lifted; [8061]

  (8) what plans he has to include a slip road in the realignment of the A13 at the junction of the Scrattons Farm estate and the A13; [8063]

  (9) what is the annual daily flow forecast to use the A13 in each of the next two years on (i) weekdays and (ii) weekends; [8056]

  (10) what is the annual daily flow of vehicles forecast to use the realigned A13 in the first year of the road opening for (i) weekdays and (ii) weekends; [8055]

  (11) what is the annual daily flow of vehicles using the A13 between the M25 and the A406 in the current year and in each of the previous five years on (i) weekdays and (ii) weekends. (8057]

  Mr. Bowis
  I have asked the chief executive of the Highways Agency to write to the hon. Member.

  Letter from Lawrie Haynes to Ms Margaret Hodge, dated 17 December 1996:
  The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your recent questions about traffic flows, accident data and other associated issues on the A13.
  Tenders have yet to be invited for the A13 "Thames Gateway" DBFO project and therefore tendering costs are not yet known. However, I am pleased to advise you that the Highways Agency has recently invited interest from potential bidders. This project includes the Roding Bridge strengthening. Movers Lane junction improvement and other maintenance and improvement schemes.
  The lane restrictions on the Roding Bridge and the weight restrictions on the Movers Lane/River Road flyover will remain in place until respectively the proposed bridge strengthening and junction improvement schemes have been implemented.
  The proposed underpass at the junction of the Al3 Movers Lane with River Road remains in the programme as part of the A13 Movers Lane junction improvement.
  The Movers Lane/River Road flyover was built in 1966 as a temporary structure with a minimum design life of fifteen years. Since 1991 vehicles using it have been restricted to 7.5 tonnes. It is well maintained and capable of serving its present function for at least another five years.
  For 1995, the annual average daily flow for all motor vehicles using the A13 between the M25 and the A406 ranged between 26,000 and 73,000 vehicles per day, with flows generally increasing toward the A406. Figures are only collected on a three year cycle and for 1992, they ranged between 23,000 and 66,000. Separate figures for weekdays and weekends are not available.
  Detailed forecasts for the existing A13 for each of the next two years are not available, but a number of factors will affect the growth of traffic on the Barking and Dagenham section of the A13. Current trends suggest that in outer London traffic growth generally could be in the order of 2%. a year.
  Traffic data regarding the annual average daily flow for all motor vehicles forecast to use the re-aligned Al3 in the first year of the road opening separated out for weekday and weekends is not available in the form requested. However, at the public inquiry in 1990, it was forecast that the transfer of traffic to the new A13 route would he in the region of 60% with 40% on the existing road. Given the 2 per cent growth figure mentioned above, traffic on the new road on opening would be in the region of 38,000 vehicles per day. The actual figure will depend upon the growth rates which occur and development which similarly may or may not occur.
  514
  In each of the last five years, accidents numbers for the Lodge Avenue Flyover and the Movers Lane/River Road Flyover are as follows:

  Year

  Number of personal injury accidents

  Lodge Avenue Flyover

  1991

  7

  1992

  5

  1993

  6

  1994

  4

  1995

  6

  1996

  12

  Movers Lane/River Road Flyover

  1991

  8

  1992

  3

  1993

  8

  1994

  4

  1995

  5

  1996

  11

  1 Up to August.

  The Highways Agency has no firm dates for the start and completion of the Renwick Road junction improvement scheme. This is a development-led scheme, which cannot commence until the developer has submitted proposals to the Highways Agency and these have been accepted.

  The A13 West of Heathway to Thames Avenue scheme, on which work has just started, will be connected to the existing Al3 Ripple Road at a new interchange. A link road will be built between this interchange and the Scrattons Farm Estate which will provide access to both the local and trunk road network.

  Nuclear Waste (Transportation)
  Dr. John Cunningham
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to approve the arrangements for British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. to transfer crated plutonium contaminated material from its site at Drigg to the waste treatment complex at Sellafield; and if he will make a statement. [8911]

  Mr. Watts
  The arrangements will be approved when the small number of outstanding safety issues have been resolved to the Department's satisfaction. These are subject to ongoing discussions between the Department and BNFL.

  Utilities (Transport Schemes)
  Mr. Battle
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to amend the regulations making utilities liable for 18 per cent. of the costs of diversionary works for major transport schemes. [9293]

  Mr. Watts
  I am discussing this issue with ministerial colleagues.

  Mr. Battle
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what contributions were made by utility companies towards the costs of diversionary works for major transport schemes, including street-running tramways, in each year since 1992. [9296]

  Mr. Watts
  This information is not held centrally. However, no contributions would have been made under the relevant provisions of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 before they came into effect on 1 January 1993.

  Staff
  Mr. Donohoe
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list for his Department(a) how many people in total are employed, (b) how many of the total number of staff are (i) male and (ii) female and (c) how many (I) men and (II) women are employed on a (1) full-time and (2) part-time basis. [9481]

  Mr. Bowis
  The figures as at 1 December 1996 are:

  Total

  (a) Number of employees

  13,419

  (b) (i) Number of males

  7,414

  (b) (ii) Number of females

  6,005

  (c) (I) (1) Number of full-time men

  7,233

  (c) (I) (2) Number of part-time men

  181

  (c) (II) (1) Number of part-time women

  4,477

  (c) (II) (2) Number of part-time women

  1,528

  Blackwall Tunnel
  Mr. Tony Banks
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what was the name of the company owning the vehicle which caused the closure of the Blackwall tunnel on 10 December and if he will make a statement; [9313]

  (2) if he will make a statement on the circumstances and consequences of the closure of the Blackwall tunnel on 10 December; and what estimate has he made of the likely cost of the incident to businesses in London arising from traffic congestion during that day; [9315]

  (3) what legal action he intends to take against the driver and owners of the vehicle which damaged the Blackwall tunnel on 10 December; [9314]

  (4) what damage was caused to the Blackwall tunnel by the incident on 10 December; and what estimate he has made of the likely cost of repair work. [9312]

  Mr. Bowis
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]I have asked the chief executive of the Highways Agency to write to the hon. Member.

  Letter from Mr. Lawrie Haynes to Mr. Tony Banks, dated 17 December 1996:
  The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your recent questions about the incident at the northern entrance to the Blackwall Tunnel on the 10th December.
  The circumstances on 10th December which resulted in the closure for some ten hours of the southbound Blackwall Tunnel are as follows. At approximately 2.30 pm the boom of a crane mounted on a lorry struck a sign gantry located 30 yards before the entrance of the southbound tunnel. No damage was caused to the tunnel itself, but the gantry was so badly damaged that it had to be removed completely. It took until just after midnight to complete this operation which necessitated the southbound tunnel being closed from 2.30 pm to 00.30 am. In addition the northbound tunnel had to be closed for about one hour while the central support was removed.
  The gantry carried essential lane-control signing used for operating the contraflow system during the morning peak, and without it two way traffic cannot operate safely. Manual control of the contra flow system is not a viable option for safety reasons.
  There was widespread traffic congestion in East London caused by the closure of the southbound tunnel. Some traffic diverted to the Dartford crossing and the Woolwich Ferry ran an extended service until 10.00 pm to assist with the diverted traffic. On subsequent
  516
  mornings there have also been queues approaching the northbound tunnel, as two way traffic has not been able to use the southbound tunnel.
  The Highways Agency recognises that this incident has caused considerable delays and inconvenience with a subsequent cost effect to businesses and has worked to bring the contraflow system back into operation at the earliest possible opportunity. We cannot make a realistic estimate of the losses.
  Estimates of repair costs are at this stage preliminary but demolition and the installation of a temporary and then a permanent gantry are likely to cost in excess of one hundred thousand pounds.
  The Highways Agency has, at present, no confirmed report of the name of the company owning the vehicle that caused the closure of the tunnel. A full report of the incident is awaited from the police. When we receive full details of the incident we intend to seek to recover the costs of a replacement gantry from the owner of the lorry involved.

  Air Service Negotiations
  Mr. Bill Walker
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if his Department requested from the Civil Aviation Authority a balance of benefits analysis for the renegotiation of the United States-United Kingdom air service agreements, Bermuda 2, in 1995. [9187]

  Mr. Bowis
  The UK-US air negotiations in 1995 concerned small-scale changes to Bermuda 2 rather than a full renegotiation. The Department of Transport asked the Civil Aviation Authority to estimate the possible costs and benefits to UK airlines of certain specific features of the proposed deal, notably a modest relaxation of restrictions on flights to London from Chicago and Philadelphia, and some new code-sharing opportunities.

  Mr. Walker
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if it is his Department's policy in the context of significant air service negotiations to request from the Civil Aviation Authority a balance of benefits analysis; [9189]

  (2) if he will list all the air service agreements negotiated over the last three years for which the Civil Aviation Authority was requested to provide a balance of benefits analysis. [9188]

  Mr. Bowis
  It is not the Department of Transport's policy to request an all-encompassing "balance of benefits" analysis from the Civil Aviation Authority before conducting air service negotiations, especially those which have the objective of general liberalisation. However, we regularly commission a cost-benefit analysis from the CAA when limited and specific commercial rights are under negotiation, and CAA staff are always invited to participate in air services negotiations, including preparatory UK delegation meetings.

  Mr. Andrew Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many European member states have negotiated with the United States open skies agreements which grant fifth freedom rights to United States carriers. [9114]

  Mr. Bowis
  [holding answer 13 December 1996]We understand that the US has reached such agreements with the following European countries:

  Austria

  Belgium

  Denmark

  517

  Finland

  Germany

  Iceland

  Luxembourg

  Netherlands

  Norway

  Sweden

  Switzerland.

  Mr. Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what representations his Department has made to the United States Government regarding the restrictions imposed on United Kingdom airlines within the United States aviation market; and if he will make a statement; [9113]

  (2) in what circumstances his Department will grant fifth freedom rights to United States carriers; and if he will make a statement; [9115]

  (3) what are the United Kingdom's objectives for the renegotiation of the US-UK air service agreements (Bermuda 2); and if he will make a statement. [9112]

  Mr. Bowis
  [holding answer 13 December 1996]The Secretary of State's objective in the current negotiations with the US on air services is to reach a liberal aviation arrangement to the benefit of the UK. Both access to the internal US market and fifth freedom rights are being discussed within the current negotiations.

  Road Safety Research
  Mr. Day
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will provide a list of research projects, together with their start and end dates, initiated or planned in preparation for the setting of road safety targets after the year 2000; and if he will provide a summary of the aims and the work being undertaken within each project. [9319]

  Mr. Bowis
  We have only one research project planned or in progress on road safety targets after the year 2000—"Analysis and Exposure Monitoring Requirements for Post 2000 Targets". The project started on 17 June 1996 and is due to end on 16 June 1998.

  The aim of this study is to provide analysis of past and future trends in casualty reductions in order to help develop soundly based new road safety targets post-2000.

  The research will involve a systematic analysis of trends in casualty numbers taking account of current assumptions about traffic growth, demographic change, and other relevant factors. Possible new measures for casualty reduction which would be required to achieve a new target will be evaluated and costed. It will also consider how a future target should be monitored and future requirements for vulnerable road user exposure data.

  Mr. Andrew Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the terms of reference are of the evaluation of the hazard perception testing working party set up by the road safety division of his Department; 'what its membership is; what progress it has made; and when it is expected to report. [9424]

  Mr. Bowis
  We are at present considering membership for an advisory group on the possible future use of hazard perception testing. Initial approaches have been made to 518
  several representative groups including: the Transport Research Laboratory, the Driving Standards Agency, DriveSafe Services Ltd. who administer the theory test for learner drivers, driver instruction bodies, the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, the Northern Ireland Driver and Vehicle Testing Agency, and other experts. There are no plans to ask any group to produce a report: the aim is to provide the Department with a source of advice.

  Legislation
  Mrs. Roche
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many items of legislation relating to his Department have been repealed since January 1994; how many statutory instruments were introduced during the same period; and how many of the latter were(a) deregulatory and (b) fee orders. [9370]

  Mr. Bowis
  I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster today.

  Road Vehicles (Pollution)
  Mr. Martyn Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research he has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the feasibility of reducing the environmental disbenefits of current models of motor car. [9214]

  Mr. Bowis
  My Department has commissioned a number of research projects aimed at assessing and controlling the environmental impact of current models of cars. These are listed in the table and further details are available on the Department's internet web site at http://www.open.gov.uk/dotkvs/rv-res00.htm. On completion, all projects will be evaluated for cost effectiveness, practicality and, if appropriate, their wider application in an EU context.

  Reference

  Project title

  S010E/VB

  In-service emissions from current fleet

  S010K/VB

  In-service emissions testing of catalyst-equipped vehicles

  S360D/VB

  Detection of vehicles burning lubricating oil

  S031J/VB

  Road and tyre noise: collaboration to reduce tyre noise

  S030L/VB

  In-service noise testing

  S026F/VB

  Diesel smoke test procedures and meter specifications

  S260F/VB

  Vehicle fuel consumption and emissions forecasts

  S360B/VB

  Remote measurement of vehicle emissions

  S260H/VB

  Petrol and diesel emissions factors measurement

  S140A/VB

  Vehicle particulate emissions measurement

  Mr. Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the(a) feasibility and (b) desirability of encouraging industrial innovation to reduce the environmental disbenefits of current models of bus; and if he will make a statement. [9215]

  Mr. Watts
  There is no doubt that industrial innovation can help to reduce the environmental disbenefits of buses. This has already been demonstrated by the technological advances that are now being applied to new diesel engines in order to meet the tighter emission standards for heavy vehicles, including buses, that came into force on
  519
  1 October this year. My Department works closely with both our European partners and the European Commission to develop progressively tighter emissions standards, a strategy which is providing extremely successful in encouraging industrial innovation and results in significant reductions in emissions from all categories of vehicle.

  Coastguard Towing Vessels
  Mr. Wallace
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place in the Library HM Coastguard's report on the winter trials of the emergency towing vessels stationed in Dover and Stornoway. [9224]

  Mr. Bowis
  HM Coastguard's report on winter trials of the emergency towing vessels stationed in Dover and Stornoway will be published very shortly, and a copy will then be placed in the Library.

  Lorry Drivers (Delays Abroad)
  Mr. Andrew Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations have been made to the Greek Government in respect of providing(a) protection, (b) freedom of movement and (c) compensation to British drivers. [9423]

  Mr. Watts
  The British ambassador in Athens saw the Greek Minister of the Interior on 11 December when he asked that British drivers be given all support and protection. The following day my noble Friend the Minister for Aviation and Shipping spoke in Brussels to the Greek Transport Minister about the position of trapped British drivers and compensation. I am pleased to say that almost all the British drivers known to have been detained in Greece are now clear of the blockades.

  Mr. Smith
  To as the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what discussions have taken place at the Council of Ministers regarding the issue of compensation claims from British lorry drivers who were delayed by the French lorry drivers' dispute; [9421]

  (2) what discussions have taken place at the Council of Ministers regarding the issue of British lorry drivers currently delayed in Greece. [9422]

  Mr. Watts
  The blockades of lorries in both France and Greece were discussed at the Transport Council last week. The French and Greek Transport Ministers both responded positively. The French Minister repeated the assurances she had previously given to my right hon. Friend that claims for compensation will be considered as quickly as possible.

  BEST Pension Fund
  Mr. Maclennan
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place in the Library a copy of the correspondence which has passed between the trustees of the BEST pension fund and his Department. [9390]

  Mr. Watts
  A copy of the letter which my right hon. Friend wrote to NBC Pension Trustees Ltd. on 27 November has already been placed in the Library. Because of the possibility of legal proceedings, I do not believe that it would be appropriate to place other correspondence in the Library.

  Public Transport (Assaults)
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many attacks on(a) passengers and (b) staff have been (i) reported (ii) resulted in prosecutions and (iii) resulted in convictions in each of the last five years broken down by (1) gender and (2) age bands of 10 years on (x) London Underground, (y) each of the bus companies operating in London and (z) each of the railway companies; and if he will make a statement. [9608]

  Mr. Bowis
  The information is not available in the form requested.

  West London Line
  Mr. Soley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received from the British Railways Board on the funding of the noise mitigation scheme on the West London line; and if he will make a statement. [8742]

  Mr. Watts
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]Following discussions with the British Railways Board, the Government have taken steps to ensure that the board is able to meet its commitment to part-fund noise mitigation works on the West London line. It is now up to the board to take this forward with the local authorities concerned.

  Policies and Programme
  Mr. Andrew Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on what date the 1997–98 settlement for the transport policies and programme will be announced; and in what format the details will be published. [9159]

  Mr. Watts
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]Details of the settlement were released on 16 December. Copies of the press release containing a full analysis of data were placed in the Library of the House. They were also placed in Members' mail boxes in the Members' post office counter.

  Bus Employees Superannuation Trust
  Mr. Madden
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place in the Library the correspondence between himself and his predecessor and the trustee of the bus employees superannuation trust over the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [9177]

  Mr. Watts
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]A copy of the letter that my right hon. Friend wrote to the NBC Pension Trustees Ltd. on 27 November has already been placed in the Library. He and his predecessor have written no other letters to the company.

DEFENCE

  Aviation Repairs
  Mr. Barry Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what plans he has for privatisation in the field of defence aviation repair; and if he will make a statement; [8828]

  (2) what consultations his Department plan in respect of the possible formation of a Defence Aviation Repair Agency; and if he will make a statement; [8825]
  521
  (3) what plans he has to establish a Defence Aviation Repair Agency; and if he will make a statement. [8827]

  Mr. Arbuthnot
  The armed forces requirements for deep aviation repair are currently the subject of a prior options review to determine the optimum means of providing this service. The team conducting this review has consulted widely with establishments concerned, including trades union representatives. They have also consulted industrial companies who undertake deep aviation repair. This review is expected to be completed in the new year.

  Gulf War Syndrome
  Mr. Alfred Morris
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if Doctor Wisley's epidemiological study in relation to illnesses arising from the Gulf war and other operations is complementary to those announced by the Minister of State in his statement of 10 December,Official Report, columns 119–23; and if he will make a statement. [9172]

  Mr. Soames
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]In commissioning the two studies that I recently announced my Department sought to complement rather than duplicate federally-funded US research. To this end, the Medical Research Council was briefed about Dr. Wessely's study before the council made its recommendations to the MOD. The three projects will be carefully co-ordinated to ensure that they complement each other.

  Children (Payment of Air Fares)
  Sir Alan Haselhurst
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many children under the age of 16 years had air fares subsidised(a) wholly and (b) partly by reason of their relationship to service personnel and employees of his Department for travel between the United Kingdom and (i) other EU states and (ii) non-EU states, in the last year for which information is available; and what was the total cost of the subsidy. [9320]

  Mr. Soames
  This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

  Legislation
  Mrs. Roche
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many items of legislation relating to his Department have been repealed since January 1994; how many statutory instruments were introduced during the same period; and how many of the latter were(a) deregulatory and (b) fee orders. [9359]

  Mr. Soames
  I refer the hon. Lady to the answer given today by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

  Bowman Radio Communications Contract
  Dr. David Clark
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement concerning his Department's competition policy in relation to the Bowman radio communications contract. [9659]

  Mr. Arbuthnot
  The Bowman programme has been pursued in accordance with Ministry of Defence procurement policy, whereby the Department seeks competition wherever possible. The programme is in the 522
  project definition phase, which is being undertaken by two competing consortia, Yeoman led by Siemens Plessey Systems and Racal, and Crossbow, led by ITT UK Ltd. The MOD is currently examining the procurement options open to the Department for production, including the scope for competition at sub-contractor level. Whichever procurement route is chosen for Bowman, MOD will aim to secure the maximum practicable level of competition.

  Dr. Clark
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he plans to announce the award of the Bowman radio communications contract. [9657]

  Mr. Arbuthnot
  The procurement options for the Bowman production phase are currently being evaluated by the Ministry of Defence. A decision on the way ahead will be announced as soon as possible.

  Dr. Clark
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what criteria he will base his decision to award the Bowman radio communications contract. [9658]

  Mr. Arbuthnot
  The criteria for placing a contract for the Bowman production phase will be consistent with departmental procurement policy, which aims to obtain the best overall value for money for the Defence budget. Securing the maximum practicable level of competition will be central to the achievement of this objective.

  Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Bosnia)
  Mr. Dalyell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his statement to the Scottish Grand Committee on 25 November,Official Report, column 6, if he will make a statement on the number of men and quantity of equipment available to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in Bosnia. [9392]

  Mr. Soames
  There are 343 Royals Scots Dragoon Guards currently serving in Bosnia and Croatia. They are equipped with 15 Challenger tanks and a total of 44 tracked armoured vehicles. The remainder of the regiment is conducting training and rear party duties. Two squadrons of tanks which are not required for the current deployment have been retained in Germany.

  Officers (Retirement)
  Mr. Wilson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many officers in each service and by rank have been retired on full pay in each year since 1992; and what was the annual cost in each category. [9445]

  Mr. Soames
  None. The armed forces pension scheme makes no provision for the retirement of officers, or other ranks, on full pay.

  Clansman Radio Communications System
  Dr. David Clark
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the current operational effectiveness of the Army's Clansman radio communications system. [9660]

  Mr. Soames
  The operational effectiveness of all in-service equipment is kept under constant review. Clansman continues to provide a useful capability and will be maintained in-service until it is replaced by Bowman.

  "Competing for Quality"
  Mr. Barry Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he proposes to announce the result of the "Competing for Quality" competition at RAF Sealand, Deeside, Flintshire; and if he will make a statement.[8826]

  Mr. Arbuthnot
  My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the then Minister of State for Defence Procurement, announced on 18 October 1994,Official Report, column 237, his intention to undertake a "Competing for Quality" programme for all activities at RAF Sealand. After a hard-fought competition, I can now announce that the in-house bid team has been selected, against two commercial bidders, and that my Department intends to enter into a service level agreement with the team, beginning in April next year. The competition has resulted in significant savings and will safeguard the important role of RAF Sealand in providing crucial support to the front line. I congratulate the in-house team on the imagination and hard work shown in putting together the winning bid.

  Ministry of Defence Police
  Mr. McFall
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are the standard disciplinary procedures for his Department's police force; who is the nominated disciplinary officer; and who deputises in the absence of the nominated disciplinary officer. [8935]

  Mr. Soames
  This is a matter for the chief constable/chief executive of the Ministry of Defence Police. I have asked the chief constable/chief executive to write to the hon. Member.

  Letter from W.E.E. Boreham to Mr. John McFall, dated 17 December 1996:
  I am replying to your Question to the Secretary of State for Defence about disciplinary procedures within the Ministry of Defence Police, as this falls within my area of responsibility as Chief Constable/Chief Executive of the Ministry of Defence Police Agency.
  The Ministry of Defence Police (Discipline) Regulations 1985, (as amended 1988) are based on the Home Office Police Discipline Regulations.
  The Deputy Chief Constable is responsible for deciding the level of disciplinary action to be taken in complaints against police and reported disciplinary matters.
  If it is decided by the Deputy Chief Constable that formal disciplinary proceedings by way of a hearing are required, the officer(s) will appear before either the Chief Constable or a nominated Assistant Chief Constable depending on the seriousness of the matters complained of, and the levels of punishment thought appropriate.
  However, all complaints against police matters in England and Wales are referred to the independent Police Complaints Authority in the same way as for all other Home Department Police Forces. Complaints matters in Scotland are dealt with in exactly the same way as those considered by Scottish Chief Constables with their Forces. There is no provision in Scotland for an independent body for complaints against the police other than Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (Scotland) to whom a complainant may refer if dissatisfied with the Chief Constable's decision. In Northern Ireland complaints are referred to the Independent Commission for Police Complaints for Northern Ireland.

  Young Service Personnel
  Mr. Simpson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British soldiers under the age of 18 years are serving in(a) Northern Ireland and (b) Bosnia. [9299]

  Mr. Soames
  The number of British soldiers under 18 years of age who are currently serving in(a) Northern Ireland and (b) Bosnia is 44 and 32 respectively.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

  "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans"
  Mr. Derek Foster
  To ask the President of the Board of Trade what costs quoted in the document, "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans", were prepared in his Department; what detailed assumptions and interpretations were provided to officials in his Department to enable preparation of each cost; and what was the total cost to public funds of preparing each estimate. [6352]

  Mr. Lang
  The Department of Trade and Industry, in conjunction with the Treasury, prepared factual material relating to costings published in "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" numbered 7,8,9,10 and 88. The detailed assumptions and interpretations that were provided to officials are set out in my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary's reply to the hon. Member today. It is not the normal working practice to keep a record of the time spent in providing factual information to Ministers and it is not therefore possible to offer a reliable estimate of the costs involved.

  Business Links
  Mr. Harvey
  To ask the President of the Board of Trade what monitoring process will be used by his Department to ensure that merging the business links budget into a single budget will be cost effective; and what checks will be in place to ensure that money is being targeted effectively by business links. [8937]

  Mr. Page
  Merging the business links budget into a single budget stream is part of a simplification process which also involves relating funding to achievements. Bids for business links service funding are submitted by training and enterprise councils which are required to assess the business support services required in the local area in a business plan which will also describe how the TEC will monitor achievements and impacts. The TEC will be required to submit regular management information to the Government Office, have regular reviews of the targets and milestones in the business plan with the Government Office contract manager, satisfy financial appraisal and monitoring checks and provide evidence of achievements against plans before each contracting round. In addition, my Department has a programme of independent evaluation to check that Government funding is being targeted in a way that secures optimum value for money.

  Mr. Harvey
  To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many business links have not proved financially viable; and what has been the total amount of funding provided by the Government. [8938]
  525
  Mr. Page
  The Department of Trade and Industry's contribution towards establishing the business links network is approximately £54 million over the period 1993–94 to 1995–96. Over the same period the Department has provided £113 million for business support services. For the current financial year the Department has made available £49 million for establishing the network and £81 million for business support services. No business link has proved not be financially viable.

  Offshore Petroleum Licensing
  Lady Olga Maitland
  To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the current position of the 17th round of offshore petroleum licensing. [9728]

  Mr. Page
  I am pleased to announce that the Petroleum (Production) (Seaward Areas) (Amendment) Regulations 1996 came into force on 16 December 1996. These regulations vary the terms and conditions of petroleum licences to reflect the nature of the acreage to be awarded in the 17th round.

  Following the entry into force of the regulations, the formal notice offering tranches within the UKCS for licence in the 17th round of offshore licensing will soon be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. This will set out the detailed terms of the round, including the format of applications, the information required with the application, the criteria to be used in assessing applications and the date by when applications must be received which will be no earlier than 90 days after the notice appears.

  In order to provide as much flexibility to applicants as possible, applications may be made from 6 January 1997 until the closing date. No decisions about licence awards will be taken until after the closing date for applications and after all applications have been thoroughly assessed.

  Chemical Weapons Act 1996
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement about the operation of the Chemical Weapons Act 1996. [9863]

  Mr. Lang
  The Chemical Weapons Act 1996 entered into force on 16 September 1996.

  In consultation with industry and other interested parties, my Department has continued with preparations to implement the chemical weapons convention in the United Kingdom from when it comes into effect on 29 April 1997. The Chemical Weapons (Notification) Regulations 1996 and the Chemical Weapons (Licence Appeal Provisions) Order 1996 have been made; the production, possession and use of the most toxic chemicals is now subject to licence, with a more refined licensing system to be introduced from 1 January 1997; the first stage of the process of collecting information to enable the compilation of the United Kingdom's initial declaration to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has started; and consultation on the composition of the advisory committee is also well advanced. I hope to be able to make an announcement about the appointment of the committee's chairman soon.

  EU Research Council
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the outcome of the EU Research Council on 5 December. [9862]

  Mr. Ian Taylor
  The main issue considered by the Council was the Commission's revised proposal for 100 million ecu additional funding for the fourth framework programme for research and technological development. The Council agreed the proposal subject to a statement in the minutes by the Council and Commission recognising the need for the Council to examine urgently, on the basis of detailed figures provided by the Commission, the expenditure pressures expected to arise in category 3 of the EU's financial perspectives until the end of the current financing period. This statement was included to respond to concerns expressed by the UK, and shared by other member states, that the proposal should be fully compatible with the financial perspectives. The Netherlands and Sweden entered reservations that are expected to be raised as and when the European Parliament confirm funding agreed by the Budget Council for research and TENs—trans-European networks—in the final stages of the EU's 1997 budgetary process. The areas to be funded from the 100 million ecu match the United Kingdom priorities well, especially research on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and vaccines, and on aeronautics technologies.

  The Council had a brief discussion of the Commission's proposals for the structure of the fifth framework programme outlined in its working paper, "Towards the Fifth Framework Programme: material for the policy debate". Most member states shared the reservations expressed by the UK, that substantial further consideration was needed of programme objectives and management mechanisms to achieve the aim of a focused, user-driven programme.

  The Council agreed conclusions endorsing the Commission's proposed research strategy for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, which specifies priority research areas and embodies provisions that will ensure that the research undertaken is of the highest quality. The Council also agreed conclusions on the treatment of SMEs in the framework programme, the role of the joint research centre and the contribution of research to the fight against drugs.

  Science, Engineering and Technology Expenditure
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he has reviewed the interrelationships between the science, engineering and technology expenditure of Government Departments. [9864]

  Mr. Ian Taylor
  The Government chief scientific adviser has carried out such a review at my right. hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade's request. A report of the review is published today and I have arranged for copies to be placed in the Library of the House.

  Newspaper Publishers
  Mr. Dafis
  To ask the President of the Board of Trade what representations he has received regarding the conclusion of the recent report of the Committee for Diversity and Pluralism on the space available for minority titles; and if he will make a statement. [7965]

  Mr. Page
  I have seen a copy of the report and noted the comments about the distribution of newspapers and magazines.

  Mr. Dafis
  To ask the President of the Board of Trade what conclusions his Department has reached in respect of the recent recommendations about home news delivery made by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission; and what assessment he has made of representations from local professional newsagents regarding margin decreases imposed by newspaper publishers. [7964]

  Mr. John M. Taylor
  The MMC last reported on newspaper distribution in 1993. It made no recommendations in respect of home delivery.

  Newsagents' margins on the sale of newspapers are a commercial matter for the parties concerned.

  Mr. Livingstone
  To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment he has made of the conclusions of the recent report of the Committee for Diversity and Pluralism relating to newspaper publishers' imposed margins; and if he will make a statement. [8582]

  Mr. Page
  I have seen a copy of this report and noted its contents.

  Offshore Installations (Pollution)
  Mr. Meacher
  To ask the President of the Board of Trade what records his Department compiles of the oil company names and the oil drilling rigs and platforms involved in oil spillages and discharges in United Kingdom licensed blocks in the(a) North sea and (b) North Atlantic. [9500]

  Mr. Page
  Oil spills and oily discharges from oil and gas installations on the United Kingdom continental shelf are reported on an installation by installation basis to my Department. This information is then compiled on an annual basis to provide the records contained in the "Energy Report", a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.

  The reports prior to 1994 are held in a non-electronic form on file in chronological order, whilst those from 1994 are held electronically and can thus be more readily sorted to give information on a company or installation basis.

  European Business Survey
  Mrs. Roche
  To ask the President of the Board of Trade when his Department received a copy of Grant Thornton's spring 1996 European Business Survey; and what assessment he has made of the survey. [9281]

  Mr. Page
  My Department received a copy of Grant Thornton's 1996 "European Business Survey" when it was published in May of this year.
  528
  I welcome the survey and have noted its findings. The Government place great emphasis on listening to and responding to the views of business. Grant Thornton's "European Business Survey" is an important contribution to that process. It provides a comprehensive, comparative analysis of the opinions of small and medium-sized enterprises in 17 European countries, including the United Kingdom, on a wide range of issues relevant to their competitiveness.

  Airline Alliance
  Mr. Andrew Smith
  To ask the President of the Board of Trade if the undertakings and conditions he has proposed in relation to the British Airways/American Airlines alliance are subject to amendment; and if he will consult on them with(a) the public and (b) interested parties. [9420]

  Mr. John M. Taylor
  My right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade announced on 6 December that the parties to this alliance would have to agree to certain undertakings and conditions if they were to avoid a reference to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. In asking the Director General of Fair Trading to negotiate these undertakings he explicitly invited all interested third parties to make known their views on the proposals. Representations should be made to the Office of Fair Trading by 5 pm on 10 January 1997.

  CE Energy
  Mr. Cousins
  To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he proposes to refer the bid for Northern Electric by CE Energy to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission; and if he will make a statement. [9310]

  Mr. John M. Taylor
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]My right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade announced on 13 December that he had decided not to refer CE Electric UK plc's proposed acquisition of Northern Electric plc to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.

SOCIAL SECURITY

  "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans"
  Mr. Derek Foster
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what costs quoted in the document, "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans", were prepared in his Department; what detailed assumptions and interpretations were provided to officials in his Department to enable preparation of each cost; and what was the total cost to public funds of preparing each estimate. [6348]

  Mr. Lilley
  The Department of Social Security, in conjunction with the Treasury, prepared factual material relating to costings published in "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" numbered 64 to 80. The detailed assumptions and interpretations that were provided to officials are set out in my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary's reply to the hon. Member today. It is not the normal working practice to keep a record of the time spent in providing factual information to Ministers and it is not therefore possible to offer a reliable estimate of the costs involved.

  Invalidity Benefit
  Mr. George Howarth
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much per year a claimant on invalidity benefit is allowed to earn under the therapeutic rule without it having any effect on his benefit; and if he will make a statement. [6901]

  Mr. Burt
  Incapacity benefit recipients are permitted to work for up to 16 hours per week provided that such work has been certified by their general practitioner as being beneficial to their specific medical condition. Such work will not normally affect benefit entitlement unless earnings exceed £45.50 per week.

  Retirement Pension
  Ms Corston
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of(a) the number of pensioners (i) aged 75 years and over and (ii) aged under 75 years and (b) the cost of the flat-rate basic retirement pension, at 1995–96 prices, for the years (1) 199.5–96, (2) 2000–2001, (3) 2010–2011, (4) 2020–2021 and (5) 2030–2031. [8016]

  Mr. Heald
  There are 4.3 million pensioners aged 75 years and over, and 6.2 million pensioners aged under 75 at 31 March 1996.1

  Estimates for the expenditure on basic state retirement pension at 1995–96 prices for the specified years are given in the table.2

  1995–96 prices £ billion

  Year

  Expenditure on basic state retirement pension for pensioners aged under 75

  Expenditure on basic state retirement pension for pensioners aged 75 and over

  Total expenditure on basic state retirement pension

  1995–96

  15.9

  11.0

  26.9

  2000–01

  16.8

  12.8

  29.5

  2010–11

  19.8

  13.5

  33.3

  2020–21

  19.4

  15.8

  35.3

  2030–31

  22.7

  19.8

  42.5

  Notes:

  1 Figures are for all countries and are rounded to the nearest 100,000. State retirement pension includes all contributory and non contributory state pensions.

  2 Figures are rounded to the nearest £100 million.

  Source:

  Government Actuaries Department.

  Contributory basic retirement pension: the Government Actuary's Department. The figure for 1995–96 is based on the draft accounts for the national insurance fund for 1995–96. The figures for 2000–2001 onwards are based on the report by GAD on the "Financial Effects of the Pension Bill 1994 on the National Insurance Fund", Cm 2714, and assume price uprating of benefits and the equalisation of state pension ages at 65 by 2020. The expenditure on basic state retirement pension for pensioners above and below the age of 75 has been calculated using GAD population projects.

  Non-contributory retirement pension: departmental estimates based on the departmental report.

  Disability Working Allowance
  Mr. Wigley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the future of the disability working allowance. [8210]

  Mr. Andrew Mitchell
  The Government are committed to helping sick and disabled people who wish to return to work and disability working allowance is an important element of our approach. This benefit is 530
  providing valuable help to an increasing number of people: currently there are nearly 11,000 recipients, more than double the number 18 months ago. Similarly, expenditure for 1995–96 has risen to an estimated £15 million, just under three quarters of the total spend for the first three years.

  Research conducted by the Policy Studies Institute into the performance of disability working allowance has recently been published and this, along with our own more recent management information, will be used to continue to look at ways of refining and improving the benefit.

  Benefit Fraud Hotline
  Mr. Steinberg
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proportion of reports to the benefits cheat information line have proved unfounded to date; and what redress is available to those wrongly accused. [8073]

  Mr. Heald
  It is too early to give any indication of the number of unfounded or successful referrals generated by calls from the public to the hotline. Fraud investigations often take some time to process, to ensure that fraud is proven before someone has their benefit stopped.

  I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Lord Chancellor's Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Sutton (Mr. Streeter), to the hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. Redmond) on 17 October 1996, Official Report, columns 1086–87.

  Mr. Kevin Hughes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what is the annual cost of running the national benefit fraud hotline; [8924]

  (2) what has been the total cost of the national benefit fraud hotline since it was set up. [8923]

  Mr. Heald
  The annual cost of running the national benefit fraud hotline will be approximately £1.5 million per annum. Information regarding running costs to date is not available.

  Mr. Hughes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social
  Security how much has been spent on advertising the national benefit fraud hotline in 1996–97. [8926]

  Mr. Heald
  The answer is £500,000.

  Mr. Hughes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the average number of calls made to the national benefit fraud hotline each month. [8921]

  Mr. Heald
  The average number of calls to the national benefit fraud hotline per month is 27,791.

  Mr. Kirkwood
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what has been the cost of setting up and running the benefit fraud hotline; and if he will make a statement. [9444]

  Mr. Heald
  The cost of operating the national benefit fraud hotline is £1.5 million per annum.

  War Pensions
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) in what circumstances individuals may claim a war pension; and if he will make a statement; [8205]
  531
  (2) how many people are currently (a) claiming and (b) entitled to claim a war pension; and if he will make a statement. [8204]

  Mr. Heald
  In October 1996, the latest month for which figures are available, the War Pensions Agency received a total of 3,300 new claims for war disablement and war widows pensions. At 31 October 1996, 326,716 War Pensions were in payment. A war disablement pension may be claimed by any former member of the armed forces who considers that disablement may be due to an injury attributable to, or aggravated by, service. A war widow's pension may be awarded where the late husband's death was due to, or hastened by, service. Similar schemes exist in respect of disablement or death sustained outside the armed forces as a result of enemy action during the second world war, for example, by members of the merchant navy.

  Ms Harman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many new claims for war pensions were made in each of the last five years by people aged over 65 years. [8662]

  Mr. Heald
  The information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

  Ms Harman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will place in the Library a copy of the medical evidence in relation to hearing loss of war pensioners which was presented to the Central Advisory Committee on War Pensions. [8719]

  Mr. Heald
  I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Davyhulme (Mr. Churchill) on 12 December,Official Report, column 360.

  Mr. Kirkwood
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many(a) men and (b) women are currently in receipt of a war pension in the age categories (i) 20 to 30 years, (ii) 30 to 40 years, (iii) 40 to 50 years, (iv) 50 to 60 years, (v) 60 to 70 years, (vi) 70 to 80 years and (vii) over 80 years; and if he will make statement. [9446]

  Mr. Heald
  The information is not available in the format requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

  However, information regarding the number of people in receipt of a war disablement or war widow's pension at 30 November 1996, the most recent date for which information is available, by age is in the table.

  Age band

  Disabled

  Widows

  Under 21

  76

  2

  21–30

  3,986

  81

  31–40

  8,801

  467

  41–50

  13,676

  858

  51–59

  23,457

  1,649

  60–64

  22,827

  1,802

  65–69

  26,074

  3,821

  70–80

  136,799

  29,891

  81–90

  30,482

  18,886

  91–100

  984

  2,162

  Over 100

  38

  50

  Deafness
  Ms Harman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on proposed reductions for higher deafness pensions; and how many war pensioners will be affected. [8665]

  Mr. Heald
  No reductions in war disablement pensions awarded in respect of a hearing disability have been proposed. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has been advised that there has been a change in medical opinion on the effect of noise-induced sensorineural hearing loss on a subsequent hearing loss due to other causes such as aging.

  Where medical matters need to be determined on a claim for, or application for review of, an award of a war disablement pension, the law requires that part of the claim to be determined by a medical officer appointed by the Secretary of State. The medical officer certifies whether or not the disablement is due to or aggravated by service in the armed forces, and also the degree of disablement due to service. The Secretary of State is required to make payments of war disablement pension in accordance with the certified level of disablement.

  It was previously thought that a service-related noise induced hearing loss could intensify the effect of a subsequent hearing loss due to other causes such as aging. Authoritative medical opinion is now that such interaction does not occur and that the maximum effect of service-related hearing loss is at release from service. Medical officers must apply current medical opinion. For them to do otherwise would be unlawful.

  It is estimated that, in 1997–98, some 10,000 claims by existing war pensioners for deterioration of their hearing loss, and about 1,000 new claimants may be affected by the change in medical opinion.

  Mr. Rogers
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claims have been made for industrial deafness from people employed or formerly employed in the mining industry; how many have been resolved; and how many are waiting for assessment. [8528]

  Mr. Roger Evans
  The information is not available in the format requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

  However, we estimate that as at 1 April 1995 there were more than 2,000 industrial injuries disablement pensions in payment for occupational deafness to people employed or formerly employed in the deep coal mining, opencast working and the manufacture of solid fuel industries.

  Notes:

  Information is based on a 10 per cent. sample with an allowance for late returns.

  Severe Disablement Allowance
  Ms Walley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will reconsider his decision to remove the qualification which currently entitles those on severe disablement allowance to retain their benefit without further medical assessment; and if he will make a statement in respect of future qualifications. [8446]
  533
  Mr. Andrew Mitchell
  We propose to change the severe disablement allowance regulations to simplify the medical test arrangements by passporting those who satisfy the SDA 80 per cent. disablement test through the all-work test; and target resources on the severely disabled by limiting the criteria which passport people through the SDA 80 per cent. disablement test to those which are adequate measures of 80 per cent. disability.

  These proposals were the subject of a recent Social Security Advisory Committee consultation exercise. I will provide a statement to Parliament in response to the forthcoming SSAC report in due course.

  Reduced Earnings Allowance
  Ms Harman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what are the estimated savings in his Department in(a) 1997–98 and (b) future years as a result of the changes to reduced earnings allowance. [8705]

  Mr. Roger Evans
  Savings in 1997–98 and 1998–99 have been estimated at £35 million per year.

  Ms Harman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give a breakdown by location of those affected by amendments to regulations relating to the reduced earnings allowance. [8725]

  Mr. Evans
  The available information is set out in the table:

  Reduced earnings allowance cases by area directorate

  Area directorate

  Number of cases

  AD1—East London And Anglia

  882

  AD2—Chilterns

  409

  AD3—London South

  1,984

  AD4—West Country

  890

  AD5—Mercia

  2,735

  AD6—West Midlands

  797

  AD7—Wales

  2,127

  AD8—North West Coast

  1,790

  AD9—Greater Manchester

  1,692

  AD10—Yorkshire

  2,046

  AD11—Tyne Tees

  4,470

  AD12—West of Scotland

  521

  AD13—East of Scotland

  1,209

  Benefit Centres

  76

  Total

  21,628

  Source:

  Benefits Agency
  100 per cent. count as at 31 October 1996 and subject to amendment.

  Note:

  Information relates to the amendment regulation that were introduced on 24 March 1996.

  Ms Harman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what recent representations he has received about changes in the reduced earnings allowance. [8721]

  Mr. Evans
  As at 9 December, we had over the preceding six weeks received 12 representations from hon. Members and 14 from members of the public.

  Ms Harman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many appeals there have been to social security appeals tribunals against reductions in the reduced earnings allowance; what were the results of these appeals;534
  how many appeals are to be considered by the Social Security Commissioners; by what date the appeals will be heard; and if he will make a statement. [8726]

  Mr. Evans
  The information regarding appeals to social security tribunals is not available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

  Since the amending regulations came into force from 24 March, there have been 24 appeals to Social Security Commissioners, 20 are from claimants and four from adjudication officers. It is not possible to say at this stage when the appeals will be heard.

  Family Credit
  Mr. Alan Howarth
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the annual cost of increasing the maintenance disregard for lone parents receiving family credit to(a) £20 per week, (b) £25 per week and (c) £30 per week and of the numbers who would gain in each case. [8870]

  Mr. Roger Evans
  The information is set out in the table.

  Estimated cost of increasing the maintenance disregard in family credit for lone parents

  1997–98

  Weekly maintenance disregard (£)

  Additional net benefit costs (£ Million)

  Number of gainers

  20

  5

  50,000

  25

  10

  50,000

  30

  15

  50,000

  Estimates are rounded to the nearest £5 million.

  Income Support (Lone Parents)
  Mr. Alan Howarth
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the annual cost of introducing a maintenance disregard for lone parents on income support and of the numbers who would gain, at a weekly disregard level of(a) £5, (b) £10, (c) £15 and (d) £20. [8869]

  Mr. Andrew Mitchell
  It is estimated that the cost of introducing a £5 maintenance disregard for lone parents in 1997–98 would be around £60 million; the cost of a £10 disregard would be around £100 million; the cost of a £15 disregard would be around £135 million; and the cost of a £20 disregard would be around £165 million. Some 240,000 lone parents would gain.

  The annual cost of a disregard and number of lone parents who gained would increase over time as the Child Support Agency's caseload increased. There would also be increases in costs and numbers if the disregard were extended to parents with care who had repartnered. The estimates apply the disregard to child support maintenance and other forms of child maintenance.

  Legislation
  Mrs. Roche
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many items of legislation relating to his
  535
  Department have been repealed since January 1994; how many statutory instruments were introduced during the same period; and how many of the latter were (a) deregulatory and (b) fee orders. [9369]

  Mr. Burt
  I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster today.

  Water Bills
  Mrs. Helen Jackson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the current amount for water bills allowed for in assessments of benefit entitlement; and by how much it has increased since 1994. [9181]

  Mr. Burt
  Social security benefits do not identify separate amounts for specific expenditure items. Benefit 536
  levels are considered for uprating each year and we seek to take account of all relevant factors including water costs as part of that exercise.

  Cold Weather Payments
  Mr. Byers
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security which weather stations are used for the purpose of cold weather payments in those areas covered by postcodes NE1 to NE49. [9606]

  Mr. Roger Evans
  The weather stations used for the postcodes NE1 to 49 inclusive are as follows:

  Boltshope Park: NEI9, 44, 47–48

  Boulmer: NE22, 24

  Carlisle: NE49

  Newcastle: NE1–13, 15–18, 20–21, 23, 25–43, 45–46

  Note:

  Postcode NE14 does not exist.

PRIME MINISTER

  Libya (Sanctions)
  Mr. Dalyell
  To ask the Prime Minister (1) what action he is taking to enter into dialogue with Arab and African countries about sanctions against Libya; [8012]

  (2) what recent representations he has received from (a) France, (b) Arab states and (c) the USA on the reconsideration of UN sanctions against Libya. [9393]

  The Prime Minister
  When the need arises, we remind other Governments, including Arab and African Governments, that sanctions against Libya must remain in place until Libya complies fully with the requirements of the United Nations Security Council's resolutions. These requirements include the surrender of those accused of the Lockerbie bombing for trial in Scotland or the United States.

  The Arab League and some Arab Governments have pressed for sanctions to be lifted and a compromise reached on Lockerbie.

  The US and French Governments agree with us that sanctions against Libya must remain in place until Libya complies fully with the requirements of the UN Security Council's resolutions.

  Engagements
  Sir Peter Tapsell
  To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 17 December. [8127]

  The Prime Minister
  This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House I shall be having further meetings later today.

  Council of Europe and WEU
  Sir Michael Shersby
  To ask the Prime Minister if he will announce the composition of the United Kingdom delegation for the 1997 ordinary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. [9742]

  The Prime Minister
  The 1997 ordinary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will be opened in Strasbourg on 27 January 1997. The delegation from the United Kingdom for the Session will consist of 19 members of the Conservative party, 15 members of the Labour party and two members from the minority parties.

  The appointments of representatives and substitutes have been made on the basis of nominations by the parties concerned in accordance with the resolution of the House on 22 May 1992, Official Report, column 682 and the House of Lords on 18 June 1992, Official Report, House of Lords, columns 290–92.

  The same delegation will be representing the United Kingdom Parliament at the Assembly of the Western European Union.
  538
  Representatives from the Government benches will be:

  My hon. Friend, the Member for Reading, West, (Sir A. Durant) who will continue to act as leader of both delegations.

  My right hon. and hon. Friends the Members for Northavon (Sir J. Cope) for Warwick and Leamington (Sir D. Smith), for Calder Valley (Sir D. Thompson), for Ashford (Sir K. Speed), for Medway (Dame P. Fenner), for Bournemouth, East (Mr. Atkinson) for Ravensbourne (Sir J. Hunt), for Bridlington (Mr. Townend), and Lord Newall.

  Representatives from the Labour party will be:

  The hon. Members for: Wentworth (Mr. Hardy), for Tooting (Mr. Cox), for Wansbeck (Mr. Thompson), for Newham, North-West (Mr. Banks), for Don Valley (Mr. Redmond), for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr. Davis), and Lord Kirkhill.

  The representative from the minority parties will be the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber (Sir R. Johnston).

  The following substitutes have been appointed to act as necessary on behalf of the delegates from the Government benches:

  The hon. Members for Sheffield, Hallam (Sir I. Patnick), for Norfolk, North (Sir R. Howell), for Brighton, Kemptown (Sir W. Bowden), for Salisbury (Mr. Key), for Hayes and Harlington (Mr. Dicks), for Chipping Barnet (Sir S. Chapman), for Newark (Mr. Alaxander), Baroness Hooper and Earl of Dundee.

  From the Labour Party the hon. Members for Sunderland, North (Mr. Etherington), for Glasgow, Provan (Mr. Wray), for Newport, East (Mr. Hughes), for Glasgow, Maryhill (Mrs. Fyfe), for Leigh (Mr. Cunliffe), for Leicester, South (Mr. Marshall), for Manchester, Central (Mr. Litherland) and Baroness Gould of Potternewton.

  From the minority parties: Lord Mackie of Benshie.

  Sir Anthony Durant
  To ask the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of the latest information bulletin of the United Kingdom delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Assembly of the Western European Union. [9785]

  The Prime Minister
  I have done so today.

  Public Appointments
  Mr. Milburn
  To ask the Prime Minister how many of the individuals appointed by his Department to public positions in the last year were first identified by the public appointments unit. [8548]

  The Prime Minister
  [holding answer 10 December 1996]Eight of the individuals appointed by me in the last year were first identified by the public appointments unit.

  State Opening of Parliament
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Prime Minister what proposals he has to reduce the expenditure on the state opening of
  539
  Parliament; and what is his latest calculation of the total cost of the last state opening. [8001]

  The Prime Minister
  [holding answer 6 December 1996]Expenditure on the state opening of Parliament properly reflects the nature of the occasion. The deployment of police officers to maintain public order on the route of the procession is an operational matter for the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.

  On the cost of the last state opening, I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 11 November, Official Report, column 32, and to the answers given by my hon. Friend, the Minister of State for the Armed Forces, 19 November, Official Report, column 504 and by my right hon. Friend, the Minister of State, Home Office, 16 December, Official Report, column 450.

ENVIRONMENT

  Household Growth
  Mr. Nicholas Winterton
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on household growth. [7863]

  Mr. Gummer
  The latest projections for England show a rise in the number of households—by up to 4.4 million over a 25-year period up to 2016. I am determined to ensure that the maximum number of these are accommodated on land that has already been used—particularly in our city centres.

  Local Government Finance
  Mr. Gapes
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the local authority financial settlement for 1997–98. [7865]

  29. Mr. Clifton-Brown
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the impact of the Budget settlement upon local authorities in England. [7879]

  Mr. Curry
  I refer the hon. Gentleman to the statement that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made to the House on 27 November,Official Report, columns 337–42.

  Mr. Amess
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received in respect of the standard spending assessment for Essex county council and Basildon district council. [7873]

  Sir Paul Beresford
  We have one representation from Essex county council about pupil numbers. We have not received any representations from Basildon district council on the provisional local government finance settlement for 1997–98.

  28. Sir Colin Shepherd
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the extent to which the present formula for deriving standard spending assessments reflects accurately the differing costs of providing services in sparsely populated rural areas and areas of urban density. [7878]
  540
  Sir Paul Beresford
  The research we commissioned into sparsity and local authority costs found that the size of the current allowance for sparsity in standard spending assessments is about right.

  Research into density concluded that other measures of urbanness might also be relevant, but that further study would be needed.

  For 1997–98, we therefore propose no changes in the basis of the sparsity and density allowances.

  Mr. Pearson
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received following his statement on the local authority finance settlement for England in 1997–98. [7880]

  Mr. Curry
  Following my right hon. Friend's announcement on 27 November, authorities have until 3 January 1997 to make written representations on the 1997–98 settlement. We have received 45 written representations so far.

  Business Rate
  Mr. Spring
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the impact on rural East Anglia of proposals to reduce business rates for village shops. [7867]

  Mr. Curry
  We consulted widely on our proposals for a village shop rate relief scheme; local authorities in East Anglia welcomed the proposals as a positive measure to help rural communities in the region.

  Council Housing (Central Heating)
  Mr. Turner
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to provide resources to each local authority to install central heating in each council dwelling built before 1974. [7868]

  Mr. Clappison
  At the time of the 1991 English house condition survey, 73 per cent. of local authority properties built before 1974 had central heating. Local authorities receive allocations from the Government each year through the housing investment programme and other programmes. It is for them to decide how best to use these locally-determined priorities.

  Planning Policy
  Mr. Wilkinson
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the preservation of public open space and green belt land in Greater London. [7869]

  Sir Paul Beresford
  The Government remain committed to the preservation of green belt and open space land in London, as demonstrated in the recent publication of the housing Green Paper and revised strategic guidance for London planning authorities issued earlier this year.

  Planning System
  Sir Michael Shersby
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the
  541
  practice of developers of paying the relevant local planning authority to conduct public opinion surveys in order to gauge the likely reaction of residents in surrounding areas to their proposed development; and what assessment he has made as to whether such payments detract from the independence of the planning system. [7870]

  Mr. Robert B. Jones
  There is no reason why developers should not pay all or part of any cost involved in procuring public opinion surveys, if that is relevant to the consideration of a planning application. The value of such an arrangement would be dependent on the professionalism with which the survey was conducted and the integrity of the local authority involved.

  Greenhouse Gases
  Dr. Spink
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has made of the number of countries which will meet their current commitments on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. [7871]

  Mr. Gummer
  All developed countries are committed, under the framework convention on climate change, to aim to return their emissions of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2000.

  It seems that three European Union countries, including the United Kingdom, are currently on course to meet this commitment.

  Unified Business Rate
  Mr. Day
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received about unified business rates for small businesses in areas affected by out-of-town shopping development. [7872]

  Mr. Curry
  I have received a number of such representations.

  Computers (Millennium Date Change)
  Mr. David Atkinson
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the millennium compliance of his Department's computer systems and of those in local government, together with those with which they are connected; and if he will make a statement. [7874]

  Mr. Gummer
  My Department is aware of the potential problems to departmental systems that may be caused by the millennium date change.

  The Department is a member of the public sector year 2000 group and is currently undertaking a study which will produce a year 2000 compliance audited inventory of systems, which will form the basis of a costed departmental year 2000 programme.

  It is for individual local authorities to assess for themselves the millennium compliance of their computer systems and take whatever action they consider necessary.

  Ferris Wheel, South Bank
  Mr. Mackinlay
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received asking him to call in the application for a ferris wheel on the south bank. [7875]
  542
  Mr. Robert B. Jones
  My right hon. Friend received 25 representations asking him to call in the proposed ferris wheel. When the application was referred to my right hon. Friend as a departure from Lambeth's development plan, the council provided copies of over 100 representations it had received. By a large majority, these were in support of the proposal. My right hon. Friend considered all these representations very carefully before deciding not to call in the planning application.

  City Challenge Partnerships
  Mr. Peter Atkinson
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the progress being made by the city challenge partnerships. [7876]

  Mr. Curry
  Annual reports, reflecting the performance of all 31 city challenge partnerships during 1995–96, were received during the summer. The reports are very encouraging and show that city challenge is having a significant impact in regenerating some of the worst areas of urban deprivation.

  The annual reports record outputs achieved in 1995–96 through each of the 31 city challenge partnerships programmes. The aggregated achievements were:
  Over 26,000 dwellings were completed or improved (21 per cent. above target);
  Over 35,200 jobs were created or preserved (16 per cent. above target);
  Over 900 hectares of land were reclaimed or improved (4 per cent. above target);
  Over 700,000 sq m of new or improved business and commercial floorspace was provided (3 per cent. below target);
  Over 2,100 business start-ups (13 per cent. above target).
  Over £1 billion of city challenge funding is expected to attract over £4.7 billion of private sector leverage over the lifetime of the initiative.

  An independent study by a team from Liverpool John Moores university, the city challenge interim national evaluation, published by my Department in November, concluded that city challenge
  "is the most promising urban regeneration scheme so far attempted".

  Building Research Establishment
  Mrs. Wise
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the future of the Building Research Establishment. [7877]

  Mr. Clappison
  We have announced that we propose to privatise BRE by February 1997, and are on course to do so.

  Car Parking
  Mr. Hayes
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to promote better management of car parking in town and city centres. [7864]

  Mr. Robert B. Jones
  I am keen to see better management of car parking in town centres. Our planning guidance on town centres emphasises the importance of a coherent town centre parking strategy in maintaining urban vitality. My Department also supports the Association for Town Centre Management in its role in encouraging good practice.

  Green-field Sites
  Mr. Mullin
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what recent representations he has received from house builders about the need to use green-field sites; and if he will make a statement. [7866]

  Mr. Gummer
  I have received one letter from the House Builders Federation. I also discussed this issue, among many others, at the federation's annual lunch last week.

  "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans"
  Mr. Derek Foster
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what costs quoted in the document, "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans", were prepared in his Department; what detailed assumptions and interpretations were provided to officials in his Department to enable preparation of each cost; and what was the total cost to public funds of preparing each estimate. [6349]

  Sir Paul Beresford
  The Department of the Environment, in conjunction with the Treasury, prepared factual material relating to costings published in "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" numbered 18 to 24. The detailed assumptions and interpretations that were provided to departmental officials are set out in my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary's reply to the right hon. Gentleman today. It is not the normal working practice to keep a record of the time spent in providing factual information to Ministers and it is not therefore possible to offer a reliable estimate of the costs involved.

  West Midlands Police
  Dr. Lynne Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what was the non-council tax funding made available to the West Midlands police in 1996–97; what it will be in 1997–98; and what is the percentage difference between these two figures; [9016]

  (2) what was the spending cap for the West Midlands police authority in 1996–97; what it will be in 1997–98; and what is the percentage difference between these two figures. [9017]

  Sir Paul Beresford
  The information requested is as follows:

  1996–97 £ million

  Provisional 1997–98 £ million

  Percentage increase

  Non-council tax funding of budget requirement1

  309.017

  314.391

  1.7

  Other grants2—Police specific grant, Additional Rule 2

  0.991

  2.965

  Total non-council tax funding

  310.008

  317.356

  2.4

  Maximum budget requirement under proposed capping criteria

  343.218

  354.201

  3.2

  1 Comprises revenue support grant, redistributed non-domestic rates, and principal formula police specific grant, which together represent the amount of Exchequer funding in support of the authority's budget requirement.

  2 Excluding certain capital financing grants, totalling 1.359 million in 1996–97; the figure for these grants in 1997–98 is not yet available.

  Farmland Birds (Decline)
  Mr. Dalyell
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his letter to the hon. Member for Linlithgow of 27 November on the song thrush, if he will list the research projects into the causes and possible solutions to the decline in farmland birds to which he was referring. [8013]

  Mr. Clappison
  Research dealing with the possible relationship between farming practices over the last 20 years and population of farmland birds is listed in the table. All the research is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

  Contractor

  Project title

  Institute of Terrestrial Ecology/ADAS

  Field survey and experimentation; the effects of water regime on bird and invertebrate populations

  Game Conservancy Trust

  Arable reversions to permanent grassland; determining best management options to benefit declining bird populations

  British Trust for Ornithology/Institute of Terrestrial Ecology/Central Science Laboratory

  Effects of agricultural management on farmland birds

  Oxford University/British Trust for Ornithology

  The effects of agricultural change on bird populations

  Central Science Laboratory

  Assessment of the effects of seed treatments on birds feeding in orchards

  Central Science Laboratory

  Improving the assessment of pesticides risks to birds in orchards

  Central Science Laboratory

  Strategic monitoring and modelling of woodpigeon populations to predict damage and the implication of agricultural change

  Ecoscope Applied Ecologists

  Enhancement of farm woodlands for birds

  Permaculture
  Mr. Martyn Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 6 November,Official Report, column 525, on a definition of permaculture, what non-statutory definitions of permaculture are employed by his Department in its dealings with other bodies. [9213]

  Sir Paul Beresford
  The new shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines "permaculture" as"An agricultural ecosystem intended to be complete and self-sustaining".

  Legislation
  Mrs. Roche
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many items of legislation relating to his Department have been repealed since January 1994; how many statutory instruments were introduced during the same period; and how many of the latter were(a) deregulatory and (b) fee orders. [9360]

  Sir Paul Beresford
  I refer to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster earlier today.

  Single Regeneration Budget
  Mr. Michael Brown
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he intends to make announcements regarding the single regeneration budget bid from North Lincolnshire council. [9612]

  Sir Paul Beresford
  The announcement was made yesterday. The bid submitted by North Lincolnshire council on behalf of the Barton Upon Humber regeneration partnership has been awarded £1.6 million SRB challenge fund support. A copy of the announcement is in the House of Commons Library.

  Technetium
  Dr. John Cunningham
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he is taking with respect to reports of increased levels of technetium (TC-99) in seafood collected along the Cumbrian coast; and if he will make a statement. [9656]

  Mr. Clappison
  All discharges from Sellafield to the Irish sea, including technetium-99, are regulated by means of authorisations granted by the Environment Agency.

  British Nuclear Fuels has applied to the agency for a 25 per cent. reduction in the authorised discharge limits for technetium-99 from Sellafield, lowering it from 200 terabecquerels per year to 150 TBq per year. In addition, the company proposes to set as an internal working target an average discharge of 100 TBq per year.

  The proposed reduction in the limit is contained in an application to the Environment Agency for a variation to the certificate of authorisation under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 to dispose of liquid waste from premises on the Sellafield site. Proposals by the Environment Agency to vary the authorisation will be the subject of public consultation.

  Waste Disposal
  Mr. Meacher
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what regulations govern the collection and environmentally safe disposal of(a) nicad rechargeable batteries, (b) fluorescent light bulbs and strip lights and (c) oil-based surplus paints and white spirit from (i) households and (ii) industrial and commercial premises. [9575]

  Mr. Clappison
  Waste from household, industrial and commercial premises must be managed and disposed of in accordance with sections 33 and 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Although it will depend on the product and the use to which it has been put, most surplus oil-based paints and white spirits from industrial and commercial premises will be subject to additional controls set out in the Special Waste Regulations 1996. Waste nickel cadmium—Ni-Cd—rechargeable batteries from industrial and commercial premises are also subject to these regulations, under which all movements of "special waste" are tracked by a system of consignment notes to ensure that they reach an appropriate waste management facility. Waste fluorescent tubes from industrial and commercial premises are not special waste, but their movements are subject to the requirements of the duty of care under section 34 of the 1990 Act. The waste management licensing system is also designed to ensure that the recovery or disposal of controlled 546
  wastes—including fluorescent tubes—is carried out in a manner that does not harm human health or cause environmental damage. Under section 45 of the 1990 Act, responsibility for the collection of all these wastes from household premises lies with local authorities.

  Ni-Cd rechargeable batteries are also covered by the EC batteries directive—(91/157)—which requires them to be marked with a separate collection symbol for the purposes of recycling or controlled disposal. The battery and electrical appliance industries have set up a working group which has formulated a strategy aimed at increasing the number Ni-Cd batteries being collected and recycled.

  Energy Efficiency
  Mr. Yeo
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress has been made by Government Departments towards the target of improving energy efficiency by 15 per cent. in the five years ended March 1996. [9856]

  Mr. Robert B. Jones
  The Government's energy efficiency record has improved by just over 14.5 per cent.; very close to the 15 per cent. target we set five years ago. This is an important achievement and reflects much effort and commitment by the staff concerned. I am particularly pleased to draw attention to the very good results achieved on the Ministry of Defence estate. Full details are shown in the following tables.

  Energy management in individual Government Departments is a matter for those Departments. Comparisons between Departments need to be treated with care since their estates and activities vary considerably. There have been greater pressures on electricity use, resulting in particular from the growth in use of IT equipment: some very large increases in electricity usage are due to moving a dominant HQ building from naturally ventilated premises to air-conditioned ones. This is in line with trends in the economy as a whole as part of the process of improving productivity.

  I am delighted my own Department has been able to exceed the 15 per cent. target, with even more impressive progress having been made towards reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, down by 26 per cent. since 1990–91.

  Energy efficiency has been an important consideration in the design of the Department's new headquarters buildings, both of which are expected to be classified as "very good" under the Building Research Establishment environment assessment method—BREEAM.

  While these figures are encouraging, we must build on this success. Green Ministers have now agreed a further energy saving target of 20 per cent. by 2000, on the 1990–91 base year, and my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has given this his personal support. Further savings will be challenging, but I remain determined that the Government should set an example and contribute to the reductions we need in meeting our climate change commitments.
  547

  Table 1: Government estate—energy efficiency performance1

  Civil Departments, including Agencies

  Energy expenditure2 £

  Own investment in energy efficiency2 £

  Percentage reduction relative to 1990–913 (positive figures represent per cent. improvement) Total cost at standard prices adjusted for estate and weather changes

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1991–92

  1992–93

  1993–94

  1994–95

  1995–96

  MAFF4

  2,401,478

  2,316,723

  300,000

  500,000

  -1

  3

  -4

  -2

  1

  MAFF—Laboratories

  1,443,570

  1,346,279

  350,000

  330,000

  -12

  -19

  -24

  -29

  -24

  Cabinet Office

  501,068

  499,165

  5,000

  325,000

  -14

  0

  5

  9

  15

  Customs and Excise

  2,939,700

  3,046,638

  400,000

  300,000

  2

  14

  10

  14

  20

  Education and5

  507,707

  536,235

  12,000

  45,700

  -20

  -82

  -95

  -96

  -85

  Employment5

  10,169,274

  8,840,211

  1,227,318

  1,132,524

  -1

  -4

  -2

  8

  4

  Environment

  1,536,159

  1,375,987

  150,335

  87,116

  8

  13

  9

  14

  16

  Environment—QEIICC6

  457,126

  464,473

  0

  0

  -17

  -16

  -14

  -8

  -6

  FCO

  959,281

  834,208

  117,402

  30,000

  -3

  7

  -9

  -10

  -14

  Health7

  1,037,544

  801,192

  20,000

  117,000

  -13

  0

  -98

  -83

  -54

  Home Office

  2,262,665

  2,012,161

  0

  0

  -8

  -8

  -8

  -7

  -2

  Home Office—Prisons

  26,950,553

  18,141,743

  1,500,000

  1,200,000

  2

  -4

  -3

  -8

  0

  Inland Revenue

  11,251,064

  9,054,230

  363,500

  567,744

  1

  2

  6

  12

  16

  Lord Chancellor's Department2

  5,848,176

  5,889,680

  2,050,500

  0

  -1

  2

  8

  8

  11

  ODA8

  428,999

  372,396

  0

  158,000

  —

  -4

  0

  3

  11

  National Heritage9

  78,667

  75,414

  0

  1,000

  —

  —

  —

  —

  -7

  National Savings

  1,350,214

  1,043,471

  933,182

  951,717

  3

  8

  12

  17

  19

  Northern Ireland

  9,306,333

  11,107,276

  838,500

  870,000

  1

  2

  5

  9

  13

  Scottish Office8

  1,101,890

  1,139,914

  37,400

  60,000

  —

  -6

  -8

  -12

  -18

  Scottish Court Service8

  913,405

  755,401

  150,000

  80,000

  —

  2

  5

  18

  33

  Scottish Prison Service

  2,780,847

  2,424,377

  0

  372,690

  -1

  0

  4

  7

  7

  Social Security10

  15,226,030

  14,236,000

  1,234,700

  1,000,000

  -1

  -1

  -4

  -1

  3

  Trade and Industry

  4,599,088

  4,130,682

  0

  0

  5

  5

  0

  5

  14

  Transport11

  2,983,437

  2,940,057

  313,300

  235,205

  7

  8

  12

  17

  15

  Treasury

  286,227

  233,199

  2,689

  1,855

  8

  4

  -9

  0

  5

  Welsh Office

  513,711

  543,700

  27,693

  11,933

  1

  2

  2

  4

  3

  Total

  107,834,213

  94,160,812

  10,033,519

  8,377,484

  0.5

  -0.3

  -0.4

  1.3

  5.9

  Table 2: Government estate—energy efficiency performance1

  Civil Departments, including Agencies

  Performance against energy and cost indicators, relative to 1990–91 (positive figures represent per cent. progress)

  Adjusted for estate and weather changes

  Adjusted for weather changes only

  Fossil fuel

  Electricity

  Total kWh

  Total cost

  CO2

  Total CO2

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1994–95

  1995–96

  FF

  17

  29

  -14

  -15

  9

  17

  -2

  1

  0

  4

  1

  2

  MAFF-Laboratories

  -9

  7

  -41

  -44

  -17

  -6

  -29

  -24

  -23

  -9

  -36

  -21

  Cabinet Office

  6

  39

  10

  -1

  7

  29

  9

  15

  10

  20

  -8

  -6

  Customs and Excise

  25

  48

  12

  13

  19

  32

  14

  20

  17

  25

  -24

  -12

  Education and

  -15

  -29

  -122

  -104

  -57

  -58

  -96

  -85

  -78

  -69

  -21

  -16

  Employment

  21

  19

  1

  0

  15

  12

  8

  4

  9

  5

  -8

  -2

  Environment

  31

  40

  2

  0

  24

  31

  14

  16

  23

  26

  21

  25

  Environment—QEII CC

  -76

  -52

  0

  -1

  -28

  -19

  -8

  -6

  -10

  -7

  -10

  -7

  FCO

  20

  23

  -19

  -26

  4

  3

  -10

  -14

  -8

  -10

  0

  -1

  Health

  4

  33

  -112

  -84

  -40

  -11

  -83

  -54

  -67

  -40

  -73

  -21

  Home Office

  -2

  5

  -9

  -5

  -4

  2

  -7

  -2

  -5

  0

  -6

  3

  Home Office—Prisons

  2

  12

  -24

  -18

  -1

  9

  -8

  0

  1

  10

  -12

  -2

  Inland Revenue

  17

  23

  10

  13

  14

  19

  12

  16

  14

  18

  19

  23

  Lord Chancellor's Department

  24

  29

  0

  2

  17

  21

  8

  11

  11

  14

  -3

  -2

  ODA2

  -16

  -8

  9

  17

  -7

  I

  3

  11

  2

  10

  1

  9

  National Heritage2

  —

  -11

  —

  -6

  —

  -9

  —

  -7

  —

  -7

  —

  —7

  National Savings

  21

  18

  17

  19

  19

  19

  17

  19

  18

  19

  18

  21

  Northern Ireland

  14

  18

  8

  11

  12

  15

  9

  13

  10

  24

  -4

  12

  Scottish Office2

  7

  18

  -23

  -39

  -1

  3

  -12

  -18

  -8

  -8

  0

  -7

  Scottish Courts2

  20

  39

  16

  30

  19

  36

  18

  33

  18

  34

  -3

  14

  Scottish Prison Service

  12

  15

  -2

  -6

  10

  13

  7

  7

  10

  10

  5

  5

  Social Security

  23

  26

  -15

  -9

  12

  16

  -1

  3

  2

  7

  -15

  -9

  Trade and Industry

  34

  47

  -6

  1

  20

  31

  5

  14

  10

  19

  32

  39

  Transport

  30

  32

  13

  10

  24

  24

  17

  15

  20

  18

  41

  39

  Treasury

  -2

  16

  1

  0

  -1

  11

  0

  5

  4

  10

  22

  30

  Welsh Office

  17

  38

  1

  -6

  10

  18

  4

  3

  7

  7

  23

  17

  Total

  12.1

  19.7

  -5.6

  -2.9

  7.8

  14.1

  1.3

  5.9

  5.6

  11.8

  -1.8

  5.7

  * Base year is not 1990–91. Agreed base year therefore used for the purposes of these calculations.
  548 549

  Table 3: Government estate—energy efficiency performance12, 13

  Ministry of Defence

  Performance against energy and cost indicators, relative to 1990–91 (positive figures represent per cent. progress)

  Adjusted for estate and weather changes

  Adjusted for weather changes only

  Fossil fuel

  Electricity

  Total kWh

  Total cost

  CO2

  Total CO2

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1994–95

  1995–96

  Civil

  15

  25

  11

  1

  13

  17

  12

  8

  12

  11

  -7

  -8

  Navy

  14

  25

  33

  36

  18

  28

  25

  32

  26

  34

  13

  21

  Army

  11

  17

  18

  20

  13

  17

  15

  18

  16

  21

  16

  25

  RAF

  13

  23

  10

  9

  12

  20

  11

  15

  12

  17

  21

  25

  Procurement Executive

  n/a

  23

  n/a

  21

  n/a

  22

  n/a

  22

  n/a

  22

  n/a

  22

  DERA

  10

  17

  0

  3

  7

  10

  5

  6

  6

  7

  6

  7

  Total

  12.4

  20.3

  16.6

  17.9

  13.3

  19.8

  14.7

  18.9

  15.9

  21.1

  16.0

  23.0

  Table 4: Government estate-energy efficiency performance

  Entire Government estate

  Performance against energy and cost indicators, relative to 1990–91 (positive figures represent per cent. progress)

  Adjusted for estate and weather changes

  Adjusted for weather changes only

  Fossil fuel

  Electricity

  Total kWh

  Total cost

  CO2

  Total CO2

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1994–95

  1995–96

  Civil Departments

  12.1

  19.7

  -5.6

  -2.9

  7.8

  14.1

  1.3

  5.9

  5.6

  11.8

  -1.8

  5.7

  MOD

  12.4

  20.3

  16.6

  17.9

  13.3

  19.8

  14.7

  18.9

  15.9

  21.1

  16.0

  23.0

  Total

  12.3

  20.1

  9.4

  11.1

  11.6

  18.1

  10.4

  4.8

  12.7

  18.2

  10.4

  17.6

  *Some Departments have a different base year to 1990–91. The agreed base year has been used for the purposes of this table, where appropriate.

  Table 5: Government estate—energy and cost indicators

  Civil Departments including Agencies

  Energy indicator

  Cost indicator

  Fossil fuel k Wh/m2

  Electricity k Wh/m2

  Fossil fuel £/m2

  Electricity £/m2

  1990–91

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1990–91

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1990–91

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1990–91

  1994–95

  1995–96

  MAFF

  292

  244

  209

  103

  117

  119

  3.65

  3.05

  2.61

  6.17

  7.02

  7.12

  MAFF—Laboratories

  715

  779

  665

  237

  335

  340

  8.94

  9.74

  8.32

  14.21

  20.08

  20.42

  Cabinet Office

  290

  271

  176

  94

  85

  95

  3.62

  3.39

  2.20

  5.65

  5.07

  5.68

  Customs and Excise

  161

  121

  84

  130

  115

  113

  2.01

  1.51

  1.05

  7.80

  6.90

  6.78

  Education and

  149

  171

  192

  96

  214

  196

  1.86

  2.14

  2.40

  5.76

  12.81

  11.73

  Employment

  210

  166

  169

  91

  89

  94

  2.62

  2.08

  2.24

  5.44

  5.36

  5.67

  Environment

  282

  194

  169

  87

  86

  88

  3.53

  2.43

  2.11

  5.23

  5.13

  5.25

  Environment—QEII CC

  153

  269

  233

  270

  271

  272

  1.91

  3.37

  2.91

  16.21

  16.28

  16.30

  FCO

  217

  173

  167

  145

  173

  183

  2.71

  2.16

  2.09

  8.71

  10.41

  10.97

  Health

  174

  167

  116

  107

  227

  197

  2.17

  2.08

  1.45

  6.42

  13.60

  11.82

  Home Office

  312

  318

  297

  136

  149

  143

  3.90

  3.98

  3.71

  8.18

  8.91

  8.58

  Home Office Prisons

  508

  497

  446

  69

  86

  82

  6.36

  6.21

  5.57

  4.15

  5.15

  4.89

  Inland Revenue

  166

  138

  127

  105

  95

  92

  2.08

  1.72

  1.59

  6.33

  5.68

  5.51

  Lord Chancellor's Department

  255

  195

  181

  107

  107

  105

  3.19

  2.44

  2.26

  6.42

  6.42

  6.31

  ODA1

  381

  444

  411

  220

  200

  182

  4.77

  5.55

  5.14

  13.23

  11.98

  10.92

  National Heritage1

  156

  156

  174

  141

  141

  150

  1.96

  1.96

  2.18

  8.48

  8.48

  8.99

  National Savings

  191

  151

  156

  208

  173

  168

  2.39

  1.88

  1.96

  12.49

  10.40

  10.10

  Northern Ireland

  234

  202

  193

  109

  101

  97

  2.92

  2.52

  2.41

  6.53

  6.04

  5.84

  Scottish Office1

  258

  239

  211

  91

  112

  126

  3.22

  2.99

  2.63

  5.45

  6.71

  7.57

  Scottish Courts1

  163

  130

  100

  64

  54

  45

  2.03

  1.62

  1.25

  3.86

  3.24

  2.70

  Scottish Prison Service

  533

  470

  451

  67

  68

  72

  6.67

  5.87

  5.64

  4.04

  4.10

  4.29

  Social Security

  278

  215

  207

  103

  119

  113

  3.48

  2.69

  2.59

  6.20

  7.12

  6.76

  Trade and Industry

  372

  246

  198

  196

  208

  194

  4.65

  3.07

  2.47

  11.77

  12.48

  11.63

  Transport

  196

  137

  134

  114

  100

  103

  2.45

  1.72

  1.68

  6.84

  5.98

  6.18

  Treasury

  246

  250

  207

  107

  105

  107

  3.08

  3.12

  2.59

  6.40

  6.32

  6.40

  Welsh Office

  158

  131

  98

  126

  125

  133

  1.97

  1.64

  1.22

  7.55

  7.48

  8.00

  Total

  311

  274

  250

  101

  107

  104

  3.89

  3.42

  3.13

  6.07

  6.41

  6.25

  * Base year is not 1990–91. Agreed base year therefore used for the purposes of these calculations.

  1 Progress is expressed as a percentage relative to the 1990–91 base year value of the performance indicator in question. Positive figures represent improvement. The standard indicator, against which the target to improve energy efficiency by 15 per cent. by 31 March 1996 is measured, is obtained by weather-correcting energy consumption and converting to costs using "standard prices" for fuel (6p/kWh for electricity and 1.25p/kWh for all fossil fuels) then dividing by floor area. Conversion to money both reflects the relative costs of electricity and fossil fuel and their environmental impact, and the use of fixed prices eliminates the effects of tariff changes which distort the comparison of fuel bills. In August 1995 a report was provided for the Environment Select Committee which gave more detailed background on the energy efficiency initiative and on the indicators used.

  550 551
  2 Although figures have been prepared on a consistent basis, caution should be exercised in comparing the energy use of different Departments and Agencies because of differences in their estate and the nature of their work. For example, the operational needs of prisons and the QEII Conference Centre mean that they have a pattern of energy use which is different from that of a Department which has predominantly office accommodation. Expenditure on energy and investment figures are included for information only. Investment figures relate to clearly identifiable energy efficiency measures undertaken by Departments. Energy efficiency is an integral part of all major construction projects, including building refurbishment and plant replacement; for example, the investment figure for the Lord Chancellor's Department is an estimate, a large proportion of which is accounted for by works justified on operational grounds and does not reflect specifically the proportion of works attributed to energy efficiency.

  3 The average performance figure for the civil estate cannot be derived by simply adding together the individual Departmental progress and dividing by the number of Departments because this does not allow for the large variations in consumption. The correct figure is obtained by calculating the value of the performance indicator for the year in question and the base year, for the civil estate as a whole, and calculating the reduction relative to the base year.

  4Energy performance is improving despite the addition of new buildings, major refurbishment of specialised buildings, continued growth in the use of information technology, the business led demands of Agencies and longer working hours. Depots have been removed from the reporting mechanism.

  5 For consistency with earlier years of the energy efficiency initiative, the Departments of Education and Employment have been reported separately, in the format prior to the formation of the DFEE. Figures for ACAS (now part of DTI) and HSE (now part of DOE) have been included with those for Employment Department and Employment Service.

  6 QEII Conference Centre is reported separately because of its business led demands.

  7 Since the beginning of the initiative the Department of Health estate has reduced from a large number of naturally ventilated buildings to five densely occupied, mainly air-conditioned, buildings with consequent substantial savings of rent and CILOR. Only 17 per cent. of the Department's 1990–91 estate remains on the current portfolio and comparisons between the 1990 data and current performance are therefore unreliable and do not reflect the real improvements achieved.

  8 Base year is 1991–92.

  9 Base year is 1994–95 by which time energy efficient lighting and other improvements already installed. Increased Information Technology, and also constant air conditioning during 1995's hot summer months.

  10 Workload is increasing, affecting occupancy and requiring offices to be occupied for longer, increasing the use of energy. Greater use of information technology, expansion of the use of air conditioning and the upgrading of lighting levels has increased electricity consumption.

  11 Figures exclude the Vehicle Inspectorate Agency. Own investment in energy efficiency advised as 8 per cent.

  12 The Ministry of Defence (MOD) estate is different from the rest of the Government estate, and has been undergoing more radical changes. It is therefore treated in a slightly different way. In common with the civil estate, it has greatly increased its use of information technology. Full data for the years between 1990–91 and 1993–94 are not available, so the table shows the results for 1994–95 and 1995–96.

  13 Floor area cannot be calculated for the majority of the MOD estate. However, to enable comparisons with data for the civil estate which is adjusted for changes in floor area, a proxy has been used. Changes in consumption arising from estate changes have been estimated as a result of estate adjustments, with appropriate adjustments made to the gross data for the years following the change. In common with other Departments, the MOD has a target to achieve a 15 per cent. improvement by 31 March 1996. Positive figures represent improvement.

  Granny Annexes (Council Tax)
  Mr. David Martin
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the assessment of granny annexes for council tax purposes. [9857]

  Mr. Gummer
  Under current legislation, if a building or part of a building, such as a granny annex, is a self-contained unit of living accommodation, then it is assessed for council tax purposes as a separate dwelling.

  In some circumstances, this means that families whose dependent relatives live with them may face two council tax bills, one for each part of their property.

  My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and I now propose to amend these rules, so that in future a self-contained unit within a single property will not be treated as a separate dwelling if it is occupied by an elderly or disabled member of the family living in the rest of the property. This will relieve the burden which presently falls on some families who have chosen to provide support for close family members under the same roof with a measure of independence.

  Departmental Cash Limits
  Mr. Congdon
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals he has to change his Department's cash limits for 1996–97. [9947]

  Mr. Curry
  The DOE/LACAP (local authority capital) non-voted cash limit will be increased by £3,529,000 from £1,741,558,000 to £1,745,087,000. The increase is due to the take-up of end-year flexibility for supplementary credit approvals to local authorities to enable funding of 552
  additional cash incentive scheme grants. The EYF entitlement of £4,105,000 announced by the Chief Secretary on 12 July 1996—Official Report, columns 327–28—was subsequently recalculated following revised forecast outturn data. The increase will be charged to the reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.

  Local Government Commission
  Mr. Elletson
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on his response to the recommendations from the Local Government Commission following its recent reviews of Blackburn, Blackpool, Halton, Medway Towns, Peterborough, The Wrekin, Thurrock and Warrington. [9948]

  Mr. Curry
  The Local Government Commission has made recommendations for changes to the district warding arrangements in all eight areas that it has reviewed. It has also made some recommendations for changes to parish boundaries and parish electoral arrangements.

  I have decided to accept all of the Commission's recommendations. It is important that the process for making local authority electoral arrangements should be seen to be fully independent. For this reason, it is the Government's intention not to modify the substance of electoral recommendations from the Local Government Commission.

  My Department will be consulting on draft orders so that these recommendations can be implemented in time for the elections to the future unitary councils on 1 May 1997.

  Sulphur Protocol
  Mr. Whittingdale
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a strategy for meeting the United Kingdom's commitments under the second sulphur protocol of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe; and if he will make a statement. [10278]

  Mr. Gummer
  I am pleased to announce that the United Kingdom has today ratified the UNECE second sulphur protocol. We are among the first handful of countries to do so. Achievement of the emission reduction targets in the protocol will mean even better protection for our sensitive ecosystems, forests, lakes and buildings, as well as benefits for our continental European neighbours. It will also lead to substantial improvements in the quality of the air we breathe which will be good for asthma sufferers and for everyone who has breathing problems.

  The protocol needs ratification by 16 countries to become fully effective. So far 28 countries have signed it but only five, including now the United Kingdom, have ratified. It is clearly important that all those who have signed the protocol should now ratify it. Only by concerted action across the whole of Europe shall we deal effectively with the problem of acid rain.

  Our commitment is to reducing emission of sulphur dioxide by 80 per cent. by 2010 compared with 1980 levels. I am publishing today a national strategy setting out how this will be achieved.

  The figures for 1995 reveal that emissions from the major sources—power stations, refineries and large industrial boilers and furnaces—have been reduced by 55 per cent. since 1980. This shows that we have already made enormous strides in tackling acid rain.

  We have buried the old myth that Britain is the dirty man of Europe. It never was true. Our policies on this, and on the whole range of environmental matters, show how serious is this country's commitment to the environment. We have a record of which we can be rightly proud.

  I am pleased to announce also that changes have been made to the national plan which gives effect in the United Kingdom to the requirements of the European Community large combustion plant directive. The aim of these changes, which were widely welcomed by those who commented on the consultation proposals issued in the summer, is to ensure that future allocations of emissions quota for both sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen under the national plan are more closely in line with regulatory consents under integrated pollution control.

NORTHERN IRELAND

  Legislation
  Mrs. Roche
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many items of legislation relating to his Department have been repealed since January 1994; how many statutory instruments were introduced during the same period; and how many of the latter were(a) deregulatory and (b) fee orders. [9366]
  554
  Mr. Ancram
  I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her by my hon. Friend the Member for Langbaurgh (Mr. Bates) earlier today.

  Prednisolone
  Mr. Flynn
  to ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will estimate how many people(a) have been prescribed and (b) took the steroid prednisolone in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [9604]

  Mr. Moss
  It is not possible to identify the number of patients who were prescribed or took prednisolone. Data collected cover only the number of prescriptions dispensed in Northern Ireland, and not how many patients were prescribed any medicinal product.

  Hospital Admissions
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will estimate(a) how many and (b) the percentage of people who have been admitted to hospital as a direct result of complications after (i) surgery and (ii) medicinal treatment in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [9605]

  Mr. Moss
  The information is not available centrally.

  Care in the Community
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will estimate(a) how many and (b) the percentage of diagnosed mentally ill who are currently receiving care in the community; and if he will make a statement. [9611]

  Mr. Moss
  It is estimated that over 100,000 people seen by GPs each year are diagnosed as having some form of mental illness. Over 99 per cent. receive treatment in the community. Mental health is a key area in the "Government's Regional Strategy for Health and Social Wellbeing 1997–2002".

  General Practitioners
  Dr. Hendron
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what are the building cost location factors for general medical practitioners in Northern Ireland; [9684]

  (2) for what reasons the building cost location factor for general medical practitioners in Northern Ireland is lower than the factors for England and Wales; [9685]

  (3) when the last review was undertaken of building cost location factors for general medical practitioners in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the United Kingdom; [9686]

  (4) what plans he has to bring the building cost location factor for general medical practitioners in Northern Ireland into line with that for England and Wales. [9687]

  Mr. Moss
  Responsibility for the subjects in this question has been delegated to the Health Estates under its chief executive, Mr. R. H. Browne. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

  Letter from R. H. Browne to Dr. Joe Hendron, dated 17 December 1996:
  I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions concerning the building cost location factor for Northern Ireland.
  555
  PQ2066
  The building cost location factor for Northern Ireland is currently 0.75.

  PQ2067
  The building cost location factor for Northern Ireland is lower than the factors for England and Wales because the cost of construction, as measured by the Building Cost Information Service provided by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, is lower in Northern Ireland than in England or Wales.

  PQ2068
  The location factors for General Medical Practitioners in Northern Ireland and Great Britain were reviewed for 1996–97, applicable from 1st April 1996. These location factors were produced by the BCIS and were current at that time.

  PQ2069
  The principles of the GP Cost Rent Schemes and the source of the location factors are the same throughout the United Kingdom. By definition the location factors will vary according to local current building costs.
  It is hoped that the above information fully explains the situation but should you require any further details I will be happy to provide them.

  Information Technology Projects
  Ms Church
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to his answer of 11 November,Official Report, column 69, what were the proposed annual savings for the nine IT projects in the bands above and including £1 million to £2 million, undertaken since 1992; and what have been the realised annual savings. [6711]

  Sir John Wheeler
  [holding answer 28 November 1996]The information is not available in the form requested. However, the available information is listed:

  Cost band (£ million)

  Number of IT projects

  Proposed savings (£ million)

  Realised savings (£ million)

  1–2

  2

  0.959

  10.441

  3

  8

  2—

  1

  3—

  6.8

  2–3

  1

  1.3

  2—

  3–4

  1

  0.701

  2—

  5–6

  1

  This project has been curtailed

  1 In addition to unquantifiable productivity gains.

  2 Implementation of project not yet complete, therefore realised savings not available.

  3 Information not readily available. To provide the information would incur disproportionate cost.

  Appointments
  Mr. McGrady
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the party political affiliations of the appointments which he made to statutory bodies and boards(a) between 1 April 1986 and 31 March 1996 and (b) 1 April and 1 July 1996. [9157]

  Sir John Wheeler
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]Information on the party political affiliation of those appointed to statutory bodies and boards during the period in question is not available. This information will, however, be available in the future for those persons appointed to bodies which fall within the remit of the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Public Appointments, in line with the terms of the commissioner's guidance published on 1 July 1996.
  556
  Mr. McGrady
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list each appointment which he made to statutory boards and bodies between 1 April 1986 and 31 March 1996, the length of time of each of the appointments and the remuneration paid in respect of each appointment; and how many of the appointments were of members of political parties. [9156]

  Sir John Wheeler
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]To identify each appointment made and the remuneration level involved over a 10-year period would incur disproportionate costs. Current remuneration levels are, however, set out in "Public Bodies 1995", a copy of which is available in the Library of the House. Information is not available on the number of appointees during the period from April 1986 to March 1996 who were members of political parties.

  Prisoners
  Mr. Madden
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what estimate he has made of the number of drug dependent prisoners currently detained in prisons in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [9201]

  (2) for what reasons women convicted of terrorist offences are routinely strip-searched when leaving or returning to prison from periods of parole; and how many women prisoners were strip-searched in each of the last five years; [9171]

  (3) what representations he has received in respect of discrimination against women convicted of terrorist offences. [9280]

  Sir John Wheeler
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]Responsibility for the subjects in these questions has been delegated to the Prison Service under its chief executive, Mr. Alan Shannon. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

  Letter from Alan Shannon to Mr. Max Madden, dated 16 December 1996:
  The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to the 3 Parliamentary Questions you have tabled. You requested the information regarding:
  the number of drug dependent prisoners currently detained in prisons in Northern Ireland;
  the reasons why women convicted of terrorist offences are routinely strip-searched when leaving or returning to prison from periods of parole and how many women were strip-searched in each of the last 5 years; and
  what representations the Secretary of State has received in respect of discrimination against women convicted of terrorist offences.
  There are currently no persons detained in prisons in Northern Ireland who are registered as being drug dependent.
  Full searching (referred to as strip-searching in your question) is a necessary measure to maintain prison security. A full search is a visual search only and at no time is the prisoner entirely undressed. Prison staff do not have the power to conduct any body cavity search although they may require prisoners to open their mouths.
  All prisoners (male and female) are routinely full searched when leaving or returning to the prison to inhibit the passage of items such as explosives, weapons, drugs and other contraband into and out of the prison in order to reduce the risk of escape and for the general safety of prisoners, staff and visitors.
  The average female population and the number of female committals in each of the last 5 calendar years was:—
  557

  Average female population

  Number of female committals

  1996 to 31st October 1996

  30

  169

  1995

  35

  159

  1994

  41

  198

  1993

  40

  158

  1992

  41

  166

  As to the question of representations made to the Secretary of State, I regret we do not keep statistics in a form which would enable us to answer it.

  I hope that this information is helpful.

HEALTH

  "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans"
  Mr. Derek Foster
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what costs quoted in the document, "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" were prepared in his Department; what detailed assumptions and interpretations were provided to officials in his Department to enable preparation of each cost; and what was the total cost to public funds of preparing each estimate. [6345]

  Mr. Horam
  The Department of Health, in conjunction with Her Majesty's Treasury, prepared factual material relating to costings published in "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" numbered 56 to 63. The detailed assumptions and interpretations that were provided to officials are set out in my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary's reply to the hon. Gentleman of today. It is not the normal working practice to keep a record of the time spent in providing factual information to Ministers and it is not therefore possible to offer a reliable estimate of the costs involved.

  Family Health Services
  Mr. Fabricant
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for the future of family health services. [9495]

  Mr. Dorrell
  The Government today publish a White Paper, "Primary Care: Delivering the Future", which responds to many of the issues raised in the primary care debate launched by the Government last year. It sets out practical proposals to improve further the quality and accessibility of primary care services and to offer improved development and career opportunities for the professionals who work in them. "Primary Care: Delivering the Future" complements the proposals set out in the recent White Paper, "Primary Care: Choice and Opportunity". Copies of both White Papers are available in the Library.

  Secure Accommodation (Young People)
  Mr. Alex Carlile
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many young people were being held in local authority secure accommodation(a) on criminal grounds and (b) on care grounds by age and by gender on the latest date for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement; [9123]
  558
  (2) how many young people in local authority secure accommodation on criminal grounds were (a) on remand, (b) sentenced under section 52(2) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1993 and (c) held on other grounds, on the last date for which figures are available. [9083]

  Mr. Burns
  I refer the hon. Member to table D in "Children Accommodated in Secure Units year ending 31 March 1996, England" A/F 96/21, copies of which are available in the Library. Information on which part of section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 under which a young person is detained is not collected centrally.

  Renal Services (Greater Manchester)
  Mr. Alfred Morris
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what response has been received from the South Manchester University Hospitals NHS trust to the consultation document on the future of renal services in Greater Manchester; when he expects a decision to be announced; and if he will make a statement. [9180]

  Mr. Horam
  The response from South Manchester University Hospitals NHS trust is one of many responses to consultation which West Penine health authority is evaluating. The right hon. Member may wish to approach Mr. P. Hadfield, chairman of the trust, or Mr. J. S. Downs chairman of West Pennine health authority, for further details. The lead purchaser will present its evaluation to the seven participating health authorities in mid-January 1997. Members of each authority will then be given the opportunity to consider the proposals further.

  East London and City Health Authority
  Mr. Spearing
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his oral statement of 2 December concerning future funding of the East London and City health authority,Official Report, column 686, what was the source of the additional funds he referred to; and when his decisions on the amounts and purposes will be (a) determined and (b) published. [9318]

  Mr. Malone
  From within the overall settlement for hospital and community health services, revenue funds have been set aside for a number of special purposes.

  The procedure and timetable for most of the schemes involved were set out in a circular letter to health authorities—EL(96)109—copies of which are available in the Library.

  Decisions on applications for special assistance to health authorities undergoing structural or strategic change will be determined and published individually.

  Legislation
  Mrs. Roche
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many items of legislation relating to his Department have been repealed since January 1994; how many statutory instruments were introduced during the same period; and how many of the latter were(a) deregulatory and (b) fee orders. [9362]

  Mr. Horam
  I refer the hon. Member to the reply my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster gave her today.

  Prednisolone
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of (i) afflictions for which the steroid Prednisolone is prescribed, (ii) the side-effects which have been recorded and (iii) the alternative treatments there are for such conditions; and if he will make a statement. [9647]

  Mr. Malone
  Prednisolone is a corticosteroid licensed for more than 70 specific indications which are serious or life threatening, such as asthma, malignant diseases, and arthritic disorders.

  The side effects of Prednisolone are well known and documented in product information for doctors and patients and in the British National Formulary, copies of which are available in the Library.

  Other treatments are available for many of the diseases for which Prednisolone is indicated. These are not usually alternatives, but are used to treat symptoms rather than modify the disease process.

  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people(a) have been prescribed and (b) have taken the steroid Prednisolone in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [9646]

  Mr. Malone
  It is not possible to identify the number of people who were prescribed Prednisolone.

  Medical Negligence Claims
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the total compensation paid by the NHS in medical negligence claims in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [9651]

  Mr. Malone
  I refer the hon. Member to the figures that were given to the hon. Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn), on 6 March 1995,Official Report, columns 41–42, and 17 May 1996, column, 586, and to the hon. Member for Dulwich (Ms Jowell) on 28 November 1996, Official Report, columns 371–72.

  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many medical negligence claims have been (i) brought and (ii) been successful against NHS physicians in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [9650]

  Mr. Malone
  The information requested is not held centrally.

  Dental Registrations
  Mr. Kirkwood
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many new registrations on the dental register have been made in each year since 1985; and if he will make a statement. [9443]
  560
  Mr. Malone
  The number of new registrations added to the dental register since 1985 is in the table.

  Number of new registrations on the dental register from 1985 to date

  Registered for

  Total

  1985

  1,103

  1986

  1,036

  1987

  1,083

  1988

  1,038

  1989

  1,047

  1990

  1,206

  1991

  1,075

  1992

  1,141

  1993

  1,254

  19941

  571

  1995

  1,041

  Source:

  Dental register.

  Note:

  1 The drop in the number added to the register in 1994 is due to the effect of the extension in 1990 of the British dental undergraduate course from four years and one term to five years.

  Private Health Insurance
  Mr. Kirkwood
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people with private health insurance cover in each year since 1979; and if he will make a statement. [9447]

  Mr. Horam
  The Department does not collect this information.

  Medicines Control Agency
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the names of the members of the Medicines Control Agency together with their(a) other employers, (b) other voluntary and paid work undertaken, (c) length of service and (d) areas of expertise; if he will set out the reasons for their appointment in each case; and if he will make a statement. [9653]

  Mr. Malone
  The Medicines Control Agency, MCA, is an agency of the Department of Health whose staff are employees of the Department of Health on standard civil service terms and conditions.

  Decisions regarding the licensing of medicines are made by the licensing authority—United Kingdom Health Ministers. For all new drugs, the licensing authority seeks the advice of the Committee on Safety of Medicines before deciding whether they should be licensed.

  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the(a) total and (b) percentage of funding provided for the Medicines Control Agency by the pharmaceutical companies in the current year; and if he will make a statement. [9652]

  Mr. Malone
  Apart from interest earned on bank balances and minor receipts for miscellaneous services, the Medicines Control Agency's income receipts for 1996–97 are currently estimated to total about £25 million, all of which will comprise fees from pharmaceutical companies.

  Prescription Drugs Damages Cases
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prescription drugs damages cases (i) have been brought and (ii) were successful against(a) the NHS and (b) pharmaceutical companies in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [9649]

  Mr. Malone
  The information requested is not held centrally.

  Complications Admissions
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate(a) how many and (b) the percentage of people who have been admitted to hospital as a direct result of complications after (i) surgery and (ii) medicinal treatment in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [9648]

  Mr. Horam
  Information on hospital admissions following surgical and medical care is set out in the table. As to the number of hospital admissions relating to an adverse reaction to a medicament, I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 14 November,Official Report, columns 334–35.

  Complications of surgical and medical care and percentage of all operations and procedures (ICD codes 996–999): Finished consultant episodes

  England

  ICD code

  Description

  1990–91

  1991–92

  1992–93

  1993–94

  1994–95

  996

  Complications peculiar to certain specified procedures

  24,152

  30,667

  36,108

  39,976

  44,168

  997

  Complications affecting specified body systems, not elsewhere classified

  5,432

  6,663

  9,082

  10,408

  11,810

  998

  Other complications of procedures, not elsewhere classified

  22,687

  25,860

  29,629

  31,797

  35,629

  999

  Complications of medical care, not elsewhere classified

  641

  669

  826

  887

  968

  Totals

  52,912

  68,889

  75,645

  83,068

  92,575

  Percentage

  1.2

  1.4

  1.5

  1.5

  1.6

  Campaigns currently running

  Campaigns planned over the next six months

  Cost

  Agencies undertaking work

  Planned duration

  (i) In total £

  (ii) To Department £

  Fire Prevention Burning Christmas Tree

  —

  37,000

  Faulds Advertising

  3 weeks

  Fire Action Plan

  —

  164,000

  Faulds Advertising

  4 weeks

  Tackling Violence

  1Still to be agreed

  Faulds Advertising

  16 weeks

  Severe Weather

  2400,000

  2200,000

  Barkers Scotland

  14 weeks

  Pre-School Vouchers— procedures and processes

  1Still to be agreed

  Barkers Scotland

  Phase 1–6 weeks Phase 2–3 weeks

  Christmas Drink

  —

  52,000

  Faulds Advertising

  3 weeks

  Driving Food Hygiene

  1Still to be agreed

  Faulds Advertising

  4 weeks

  Firearms Control

  —

  40,000

  Faulds Advertising

  Still to be finalised

  Promotion of Historic

  1Still to be agreed

  Marr Associates

  16 weeks

  Properties and Public Information3

  Absent Voters

  —

  47,000

  Faulds Advertising

  1 week

  Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Disorder
  Mr. Alfred Morris
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has had from the charity Miracles in relation to recognition of multiple chemical sensitivity disorder in the United Kingdom and other issues; what response he is making; what action he plans to take; and if he will make a statement. [9425]

  Mr. Horam
  I shall let the right hon. Member have such information as is available as soon as possible.

SCOTLAND

  "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans"
  Mr. Derek Foster
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what costs quoted in the document, "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans", were prepared in his Department; what detailed assumptions and interpretations were provided to officials in his Department to enable preparation of each cost; and what was the total cost to public funds of preparing each estimate. [6346]

  Mr. Michael Forsyth
  The Scottish Office, in conjunction with the Treasury, prepared factual material relating to costings published in "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" numbered 81, 82, 83 and 89. The detailed assumptions and interpretations that were provided to officials are set out in the reply given today by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary. It is not the normal working practice to keep a record of the time spent in providing factual information to Ministers and it is not therefore possible to offer a reliable estimate of the costs involved.

  Publicity
  Mr. Donohoe
  To ask the Secretary of State for 35,629 Scotland what promotional and public information campaigns his Department is(a) currently running and (b) planning to run during the next six months; and for each campaign (i) how much it will cost, (1) in total and (2) to his Department, (ii) what agencies or bodies are undertaking the work and (iii) what is its planned duration. [7411]

  Mr. Michael Forsyth
  Details of current and planned promotional and public information campaigns by my Department are set out in the table.
  563
  1 Media schedules and costs have still to be finalised.

  2 The figures given are indicative. Final costs will be dictated by the frequency of the campaign which will be triggered by severe weather conditions.

  3 Historic Scotland.

  Mr. Donohoe
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department has spent on promotional or public information campaigns in each of the last five years; and how much he estimates will be spent on these campaigns during the (i) current and (ii) next financial years. [7536]

  Mr. Forsyth
  Details of expenditure on promotional or public information campaigns by my Department in each of the last five years, and estimated spend for the current and next financial year is as follows:

  Spend for each of the last five years

  £

  1991–92

  1,220,000

  1992–93

  1,366,000

  1993–94

  1,058,000

  1994–95

  1,682,000

  1995–96

  1,819,000

  Estimated spend for current financial year

  1996–97

  1 1,860,000

  1996–97

  2 1,350,000

  Estimated spend for financial year

  1997–98

  3 2,000,000

  1 This figure is the original estimate based on spend to date and proposed spend to the end of the financial year.

  2 This figure is an additional estimate based on spend to date and proposed spend for three new public information campaigns running in the latter part of the current financial year: tackling violent crime, food hygiene awareness and severe weather warning.

  3 Costs are estimated figures only. Departmental budgets for next financial year have not yet been agreed.

  Locate in Scotland
  Mr. Keith Hill
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total grant made by the Scottish Office to Locate in Scotland; and how much of this grant was spent in advertising in England to encourage companies to relocate in Scotland in the last year for which information is available. [8105]

  Mr. Kynoch
  In 1995–96 Locate in Scotland had a total budget of £8.9 million, none of which was spent on advertising to encourage companies in England to relocate to Scotland.

  EU Institutions (Scottish Interests)
  Mr. Bill Walker
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the means by which the Government ensure that Scottish interests are effectively represented in the institutions of the European Union. [8934]

  Mr. Michael Forsyth
  Scottish interests are effectively represented to the institutions of the European Union by being incorporated into the view of the United Kingdom. I am able to ensure that this is the case by my attendance at Cabinet, and at Cabinet Committees which discuss UK policy on EU issues. In addition, Scottish Office Ministers attend Council meetings as part of the UK delegation and when matters relevant to my responsibilities as Secretary 564
  of State are discussed. As at 11 December, Scottish Office Ministers have attended 13 Councils during the current year.

  Nominations by the Government have ensured that five of the total of 24 UK members of the Committee of the Regions serve in Scottish local authorities, that the current UK judge in the Court of Justice is Scottish, and that two members of the Economic and Social Committee are Scots. My hon. Friend will be aware that Scotland is already served by eight MEPs, of whom one is a Vice President of the European Parliament. These arrangements ensure that Scottish interests are effectively represented in the institutions, and the advisory committees, of the European Union.

  Prisoner Assaults
  Mr. McFall
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what were prisoner-on-prisoner assault rates in Scottish prisons in the most recent period for which figures are available. [8943]

  Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The subject of the question relates to matters undertaken by the Scottish Prison Service. I have asked its chief executive, Mr. E. W. Frizzell, to arrange for a reply to be given.

  Letter from E. W. Frizzell to Mr. John McFall, dated 17 December 1996:
  Lord James Douglas-Hamilton has asked me to reply to your question relating to the number of prisoner-on-prisoner assaults in Scottish prisons in the most recent period for which figures are available.
  The most recent published figures are set out on page 9 of the Scottish Prison Service Annual Report and Accounts for 1995–96 (HMSO Cm 508). There were 108 such serious assaults. The figure for 1996–97 will be published in the Annual Report for that year in July 1997.

  Landfill Tax (Exemptions)
  Sir David Steel
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he proposes to permit a temporary exemption to landfill tax for those local authorities who have to dispose of unsold paper for recycling, having collected the paper to meet the Government's target for recycling waste by 2000. [8920]

  Mr. Kynoch
  The scope of the tax is a matter for consideration by my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

  Erskine Bridge
  Mr. McFall
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the location of the gas and water pipes on the Erskine bridge; and what assessment the Health and Safety Executive has made of them. [9071]

  Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
  Two water pipes and one gas pipe are situated on each side of the Erskine Bridge, in the open, underneath the footways. The structure was designed to accommodate these services and they have been in place since the bridge opened in 1971.
  565
  Following an incident on 4 August 1996 when an oilrig platform collided with the bridge, the pipes were inspected by the undertakers responsible and minor repairs carried out.

  No specific assessment of the pipes has been made by the Health and Safety Executive although it has made a number of visits to the bridge since the incident in connection with the main structural repairs.

  Legislation
  Mrs. Roche
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many items of legislation relating to this Department have been repealed since January 1994; how many statutory instruments were introduced during the same period; and how many of the latter were(a) deregulatory and (b) fee orders. [9367]

  Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
  I refer the hon. Member to the reply given today by my hon. Friend the Paymaster General.

  Island of Coll (Fuel)
  Mrs. Ray Michie
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to provide short-term emergency fuel supplies to the island of Coll. [9277]

  Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
  The Scottish Office has no immediate plans to provide emergency fuel supplies to the island of Coll. However, arrangements for doing so have been the subject of discussions between the emergency planning unit of the Scottish Office, the local council, local suppliers and the Army.

  Mr. Michie
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what discussions he has had with Argyll and Bute Council about the need for short-term emergency fuel supplies for the island of Coll. [9278]

  Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
  The emergency planning branch of the Scottish Office has been regularly in touch with Argyll and Bute emergency planning unit about the fuel shortage on the island of Coll. Discussions have taken place about the options for the delivery and dispensing of fuel by commercial sources and by the Army. Argyll and Bute council have deployed a diesel-powered vehicle to the island to help with transport problems.

  Local Government
  Mr. Dalyell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the size of each local authority area in square miles or kilometres. [9394]

  Proposals/appeals in relation to the list in force on 1 April 1993.

  Disposal of proposals/appeals

  Valuation appeal committee activities

  Region area

  Number of proposals/appeals1

  Settled before citation2

  Cited to be heard by VAC

  Settled before VAC hearing

  Heard and resolved by VAC

  Cited and not yet determined

  Scotland

  98,441

  77,721

  20,589

  15,382

  5,140

  67

  Central

  3,295

  3,040

  222

  103

  107

  12

  Dumfries and Galloway

  3,054

  2,312

  742

  559

  183

  0

  Fife

  6,722

  6,076

  646

  520

  126

  0

  Grampian

  11,211

  8,942

  2,269

  1,425

  836

  8

  Highland and Western Isles

  6,908

  4,889

  2,019

  1,259

  755

  5

  Lothian

  12,619

  8,841

  3,757

  3,248

  499

  10

  Orkney and Shetland

  384

  309

  75

  46

  29

  0

  566
  Mr. Kynoch
  The land area of each Scottish local authority was given in "The New Councils" published by the Government Statistical Service in May 1995 as follows:

  Km2

  Aberdeen city

  186

  Aberdeenshire

  6,318

  Angus

  2,181

  Argyll and Bute

  6,930

  Clackmannanshire

  157

  Dumfries and Galloway

  6,439

  Dundee city

  65

  East Ayrshire

  1,252

  East Dumbartonshire

  172

  East Lothian

  678

  East Renfrewshire

  173

  Edinburgh, city of

  262

  Falkirk

  299

  Fife

  1,323

  Glasgow city

  175

  Highland

  25,784

  Inverclyde

  162

  Midlothian

  356

  Moray

  2,238

  North Ayrshire

  884

  North Lanarkshire

  474

  Orkney Islands

  992

  Perth and Kinross

  5,311

  Renfrewshire

  261

  Scottish Borders

  4,734

  Shetland Islands

  1,438

  South Ayrshire

  1,202

  South Lanarkshire

  1,771

  Stirling

  2,196

  West Dunbartonshire

  162

  Western Isles

  3,133

  West Lothian

  425

  Mr. Dalyell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many(a) proposals and (b) appeals were submitted in each local authority area as a consequence of the introduction of council tax on 1 April 1993. [9398]

  Mr. Kynoch
  The available information relates to all classes of proposal to change the valuation list made to assessors and subsequent appeals. Information on proposals/appeals in relation to the valuation list in force at 1 April 1993 is available only for regions. Information on proposals/appeals in relation to the list after 1 April 1993 is available only for valuation board areas. The latest available information, giving the position up to September 1996, is given in the tables.
  567

  Proposals/appeals in relation to the list in force on 1 April 1993.

  Disposal of proposals/appeals

  Valuation appeal committee activities

  Region area

  Number of proposals/appeals1

  Settled before citation2

  Cited to be heard by VAC

  Settled before VAC hearing

  Heard and resolved by VAC

  Cited and not yet determined

  Scottish Borders

  3,003

  2,468

  535

  516

  19

  0

  Strathclyde

  39,906

  30,539

  9,367

  6,937

  2,410

  20

  Tayside

  11,339

  10,305

  957

  769

  176

  12

  Source:

  Quarterly CTAPP(ASS)(96) return for September 1996 from Assessors.

  Notes:

  1 Number of proposals/appeals lodged with Assessors Departments.

  2 Number of proposals/appeals settled between the appellant and Assessor which are therefore not cited to be heard by the VAC.

  Proposals/appeals in relation to the list after 1 April 1993.

  Disposal of proposals/appeals

  Valuation appeal committee activities

  Valuation board area

  Number of proposals/appeals1

  Settled before citation2

  Cited to be heard by VAC

  Settled before VAC hearing

  Heard and resolved by VAC

  Cited and not yet determined

  Scotland

  12,539

  7,489

  3,628

  2,281

  971

  376

  Ayrshire

  1,258

  948

  157

  81

  75

  1

  Central

  89

  85

  1

  0

  0

  1

  Dumfries and Galloway

  320

  192

  111

  63

  42

  6

  Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute

  1,115

  680

  320

  168

  137

  15

  Fife

  379

  180

  60

  50

  10

  0

  Glasgow

  2,752

  1,572

  1,047

  529

  257

  261

  Grampian

  1,028

  753

  202

  127

  55

  20

  Highland and Western Isles

  825

  522

  212

  124

  77

  11

  Lanark

  1,463

  764

  447

  249

  148

  50

  Lothian

  1,335

  640

  634

  531

  95

  8

  Orkney and Shetland

  37

  34

  3

  0

  3

  0

  Renfrew

  779

  278

  350

  294

  56

  0

  Scottish Borders

  203

  156

  37

  34

  3

  0

  Tayside

  956

  685

  47

  31

  13

  3

  Source:

  Quarterly CTAPP(ASS)(96) return for September 1996 from Assessors.

  Notes:

  1 Number of proposals/appeals lodged with Assessors Departments.

  2 Number of proposals/appeals settled between the appellant and Assessor which are therefore not cited to be heard by the VAC.

  Mr. Dalyell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the number of non-domestic properties in each local authority area and their rateable value at 31 March. [9395]

  Mr. Kynoch
  The table shows the number and rateable value of non-domestic properties in each local authority area at 1 April 1996.

  Number of non-domestic subjects

  Local Authority

  Total properties

  Total rateable value (£)

  Scotland

  212,288

  3,775,326,225

  Aberdeen City

  8,924

  260,810,628

  Aberdeenshire

  11,409

  116,920,027

  Angus

  4,916

  51,597,353

  Argyll and Bute

  7,025

  66,017,596

  Clackmannanshire

  1,377

  28,011,501

  Dumfries and Galloway

  9,269

  76,797,679

  Dundee City

  6,137

  122,563,445

  East Ayrshire

  4,026

  54,957,128

  East Dunbartonshire

  2,133

  41,541,463

  East Lothian

  2,960

  62,315,999

  East Renfrewshire

  1,725

  26,948,160

  City of Edinburgh

  18,085

  511,466,503

  Falkirk

  4,963

  116,252,593

  Fife

  12,786

  254,135,448

  City of Glasgow

  27,053

  636,652,756

  Highland

  15,602

  136,590,366

  Inverclyde

  2,508

  49,017,947

  Midlothian

  2,099

  34,269,370

  Moray

  5,445

  48,373,574

  North Ayrshire

  4,857

  91,244,369

  North Lanarkshire

  8,798

  177,737,011

  568

  Number of non-domestic subjects

  Local Authority

  Total properties

  Total rateable value (£)

  Orkney Islands

  1,643

  15,665,054

  Perth and Kinross

  7,470

  92,763,007

  Shetland Islands

  1,801

  39,767,502

  Renfrewshire

  5,311

  134,353,469

  South Ayrshire

  4,440

  72,149,159

  South Lanarkshire

  9,382

  173,053,815

  Stirling

  4,373

  66,082,555

  Scottish Borders

  6,839

  49,955,742

  West Dunbartonshire

  2,590

  57,584,941

  West Lothian

  4,232

  97,506,205

  Western Isles

  2,110

  12,223,860

  Source:

  Annual RVASS return from assessors.

  Mr. Dalyell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many appeals were lodged in each local authority area following the 1995 general revaluation. [9396]

  Mr. Kynoch
  The information requested is given in the table.

  Number of appeals following the 1995 revaluation for non-domestic rates

  Valuation board

  Council

  Number of appeals1

  Number of properties2

  Ayrshire

  East Ayrshire

  2,213

  2,037

  North Ayrshire

  2,380

  2,289

  South Ayrshire

  2,629

  2,425

  Central Scotland

  Clackmannanshire

  637

  625

  Falkirk

  2,735

  2,586

  569

  Number of appeals following the 1995 revaluation for non-domestic rates

  Valuation board

  Council

  Number of appeals1

  Number of properties2

  Stirling

  2,162

  2,021

  Dumfries and Galloway

  Dumfries and Galloway

  3,025

  2,923

  Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute

  Argyll and Bute

  3,057

  2,885

  East Dunbartonshire

  1,187

  1,107

  West Dunbartonshire

  1,415

  1,329

  Fife

  Fife

  6,244

  5,859

  Glasgow

  Glasgow city

  18,677

  16,084

  Grampian

  Aberdeen city

  5,498

  4,924

  Aberdeenshire

  3,302

  3,135

  Moray

  1,486

  1,436

  Highland and Western Isles

  Highland

  5,882

  5,500

  Western Isles

  318

  311

  Lanarkshire

  North Lanarkshire

  5,045

  4,501

  South Lanarkshire

  5,290

  4,629

  Lothian

  East Lothian

  1,005

  967

  Edinburgh

  9,150

  8,517

  Midlothian

  777

  743

  West Lothian

  2,392

  2,139

  Orkney and Shetland

  Orkney

  174

  167

  Shetland

  294

  286

  Renfrewshire

  East Renfrewshire

  1,071

  985

  Inverclyde

  1,713

  1,479

  Renfrewshire

  3,721

  3,285

  Scottish Borders

  Scottish Borders

  1,944

  1,892

  Number of dwellings by council tax band at 7 October 1996

  Authority

  Band A

  Band B

  Band C

  Band D

  Band E

  Band F

  Band G

  Band H

  Total

  Scotland

  606,313

  572,369

  342,732

  251,768

  248,421

  119,502

  80,757

  9,658

  2,231,520

  Aberdeen City

  21,788

  27,260

  16,657

  9,375

  11,612

  6,888

  6,183

  652

  100,415

  Aberdeenshire

  20,871

  15,272

  12,464

  13,690

  15,182

  8,626

  5,183

  375

  91,663

  Angus

  15,449

  12,025

  6,211

  6,733

  5,394

  1,643

  819

  136

  48,410

  Argyll and Bute

  7,881

  9,261

  9,093

  5,142

  6,291

  3,196

  2,120

  207

  43,191

  Clackmannanshire

  6,502

  6,734

  1,668

  1,954

  2,301

  801

  525

  35

  20,520

  Dumfries and Galloway

  11,476

  22,249

  9,971

  8,443

  8,359

  3,365

  1,603

  144

  65,610

  Dundee City

  35,504

  16,364

  6,188

  6,699

  4,734

  1,398

  674

  32

  71,593

  East Ayrshire

  27,361

  9,557

  3,551

  4,725

  4,038

  1,489

  349

  30

  51,100

  East Dunbartonshire

  1,318

  3,879

  7,880

  6,870

  10,468

  5,785

  5,190

  422

  41,812

  East Lothian

  1,184

  8,871

  13,198

  4,435

  4,336

  2,824

  2,352

  403

  37,603

  East Renfrewshire

  1,511

  5,073

  3,549

  5,713

  7,435

  5,452

  4,907

  542

  34,182

  Edinburgh city

  26,868

  44,262

  38,122

  27,679

  30,439

  18,867

  16,605

  2,946

  205,788

  Falkirk

  22,739

  18,523

  5,012

  6,129

  5,790

  2,109

  876

  37

  61,215

  Fife

  42,966

  47,364

  18,660

  15,276

  16,281

  6,936

  3,772

  340

  151,595

  Glasgow city

  94,457

  73,839

  55,677

  31,179

  19,189

  6,879

  4,240

  562

  286,022

  Highland

  19,749

  21,680

  18,367

  14,023

  12,954

  5,074

  2,423

  273

  94,543

  Inverclyde

  24,243

  4,332

  2,405

  2,382

  2,645

  1,387

  997

  156

  38,547

  Midlothian

  1,137

  11,641

  9,482

  3,530

  3,455

  1,437

  979

  140

  31,801

  Moray

  12,005

  9,863

  5,288

  4,741

  3,648

  1,113

  418

  103

  37,179

  North Ayrshire

  21,722

  17,913

  5,672

  5,307

  6,498

  2,068

  790

  42

  60,012

  North Lanarkshire

  56,680

  35,745

  14,573

  9,856

  9,126

  3,204

  1,033

  32

  130,249

  Orkney

  2,928

  2,506

  1,720

  1,229

  692

  136

  13

  2

  9,226

  Perth and Kinross

  9,290

  14,212

  9,879

  7,983

  9,241

  4,758

  3,241

  488

  59,092

  Renfrewshire

  17,590

  25,452

  11,300

  8,104

  8,268

  4,158

  2,425

  194

  77,491

  Scottish Borders

  16,164

  12,434

  5,765

  4,613

  4,669

  2,889

  2,211

  318

  49,063

  Shetland

  3,368

  1,726

  2,306

  1,275

  781

  135

  28

  2

  9,621

  South Ayrshire

  7,393

  12,255

  7,709

  6,976

  8,044

  3,917

  2,312

  210

  48,816

  South Lanarkshire

  37,779

  29,306

  21,362

  14,886

  12,087

  5,533

  3,211

  241

  124,405

  Stirling

  6,826

  8,101

  3,469

  3,072

  5,035

  3,911

  3,600

  479

  34,493

  West Dunbartonshire

  8,919

  17,689

  6,848

  3,706

  3,826

  1,011

  361

  25

  42,385

  West Lothian

  17,565

  23,387

  6,178

  4,834

  4,978

  2,404

  1,289

  83

  60,718

  Western Isles

  5,080

  3,594

  2,508

  1,209

  625

  109

  28

  7

  13,160

  All dwellings, including exempt dwellings but excluding free-standing lock-ups.

  Mr. Dalyell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the amount of grant-aided expenditure to each local authority for 1996–97 to support the provision of council tax valuation for rating and electoral registration services. [9400]
  570

  Number of appeals following the 1995 revaluation for non-domestic rates

  Valuation board

  Council

  Number of appeals1

  Number of properties2

  Tayside

  Angus

  1,714

  1,665

  Dundee city

  3,791

  3,394

  Perth and Kinross

  2,477

  2,349

  All Scotland

  103,405

  94,474

  1 Appeals and complaints lodged with assessors departments in relation to the 1995 revaluation.

  2 The number of properties against which there are appeals. This is less than the number of appeals because there are, in some cases more than one appeal in relation to a property. For example, both the owner and the tenant of a property may appeal.

  Mr. Dalyell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the number of households in each local authority area, by council tax bands, at 31 March. [9397]

  Mr. Kynoch
  Information is not available on the number of households by council tax band. The table shows the latest available information—for October 1996—on the number of dwellings on the valuation list in each local authority area by council tax band.

  Mr. Kynoch
  The valuation for council tax and electoral registration grant-aided expenditure assessments are each distributed in proportion to the number of dwellings valued for council tax. The relevant figures for each local authority for 1996–97 are shown in the table.
  571

  £000

  Valuation for council tax GAE

  Electrol registration GAE

  Aberdeen City

  394

  148

  Aberdeenshire

  359

  135

  Angus

  190

  71

  Argyll and Bute

  171

  64

  Scottish Borders

  193

  73

  Clackmannanshire

  81

  30

  West Dunbartonshire

  167

  63

  Dumfries and Galloway

  258

  97

  Dundee City

  284

  107

  East Ayrshire

  203

  76

  East Dunbartonshire

  166

  62

  East Lothian

  148

  56

  East Renfrewshire

  135

  51

  Edinburgh

  811

  305

  Falkirk

  241

  91

  Fife

  594

  224

  Glasgow

  1,139

  429

  Highland

  371

  140

  Inverclyde

  155

  58

  Midlothian

  125

  47

  Moray

  146

  55

  North Ayrshire

  236

  89

  North Lanarkshire

  512

  193

  Orkney

  36

  13

  Perthshire and Kinross

  232

  87

  Renfrewshire

  303

  114

  Shetland Islands

  38

  14

  South Ayrshire

  192

  72

  South Lanarkshire

  490

  184

  Stirling

  135

  51

  West Lothian

  236

  89

  Western Isles

  52

  20

  Prescribed Drugs (Adverse Effects)
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people have(a) become crippled and (b) died from taking the steroid Prednisolone in Scotland in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [9639]

  Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: Information is not held centrally on the number of people crippled from taking the steroid Prednisolone in Scotland.

  There have been no deaths in Scotland in the last five years where the steroid Prednisolone has been mentioned on the death certificate.

  Regional Selective Assistance
  Mr. Donohoe
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much in total his Department has failed to recover from companies defaulting on the terms of awards of regional selective assistance for each of the last 10 financial years; and if he will list the companies from which his Department has failed to recoup these moneys. [6481]

  Mr. Kynoch
  [holding answer 28 November 1996]The amounts of regional selective assistance grant written off each year since 1990–91, the earliest year for which records are available, are given in the table.572

  £ million

  Number of individual cases

  1990–91

  0.45

  21

  1991–92

  1.39

  16

  1992–93

  0.87

  21

  1993–94

  0.20

  6

  1994–95

  19.90

  28

  1995–96

  1.25

  13

  Payments of regional selective assistance to individual companies are generally regarded as commercially confidential as are any grant payments subsequently recovered or written off. It is, however, already public knowledge that in 1994–95 an amount of £17.6 million was written off in respect of the Health Care International case, and this amount is included in the total shown for that year.

  Companies (Financial Assistance)
  Mr. Donohoe
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what types of financial assistance his Department provides to companies creating or safeguarding employment with proposed development within Scotland; and under what legislation these payments have been made. [6489]

  Mr. Kynoch
  [holding answer 28 November 1996]Grant assistance from the Scottish Office for these purposes is generally given under the powers of the Industrial Development Act 1982. The principal grant assistance scheme is regional selective assistance, for which the legislative authority is section 7 of that Act. Full details of assistance given under the Act are contained in the publication "Industrial Development Act 1982: Annual Report by the Secretaries for Trade and Industry, Scotland and Wales for the year ended 31 March 1996" London, HMSO, 1996.

  Agri-environmental Schemes
  Sir Jerry Wiggin
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list for each of the agri-environmental schemes for which his Department is responsible, (i) actual expenditure in 1992–93, 199394, 1994–95 and 1995–96, (ii) provision and estimated outturn of expenditure in 1996–97 and (iii) planned expenditure in 1997–98, 1998–99 and 1999–2000, distinguishing in each case between(a) payments to farmers, (b) running costs and (c) monitoring costs. [8008]

  Mr. Raymond S. Robertson
  [holding answer 10 December 1996]The information is set out in the following table. Information on running costs is not collected separately and it is not possible at this stage to make forward projection of monitoring costs for other than environmentally sensitive areas. Overall planned provision is £9.235 million for 1997–98, £13.468 million for 1998–99 and £15.7 million for 1999–2000.
  573

  £000

  Actual

  1992–93

  1993–94

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1996–97

  Provision

  Estimate

  Payments to farmers and crofters

  Environmentally sensitive areas

  1,086

  963

  1,044

  2,525

  5,000

  3,898

  Habitats1

  —

  —

  —

  —

  600

  152

  Heather moorland1

  —

  —

  —

  —

  2,928

  99

  Countryside premium scheme

  —

  —

  —

  —

  —

  —

  Organic aid

  —

  —

  —

  53

  170

  100

  Set-aside access1

  —

  —

  —

  24

  240

  2

  Monitoring costs

  Environmentally sensitive areas

  91

  —

  238

  307

  310

  310

  1 These schemes will be closed to new applications from 1 January 1997 and will be superseded by the countryside premium scheme which is scheduled for introduction early in 1997.

  2 Includes cost of signs.

  Seat Belts
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate how many(a) drivers, (b) front seat passengers and (c) back seat passengers have been (i) killed and (ii) injured as a result of not wearing a seat belt in a vehicle in Scotland in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [8227]

  Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
  [holding answer 11 December 1996]The table provides the recorded statistics on the number of drivers and passengers killed or injured in Scotland in cars or vans while not wearing a seat belt, whether or not one was fitted. Separate information between front and back seat casualties is only available for cars. Statistics for seat belt wearing are only available until 1993 and only for the occupants of cars and vans. The table does not include figures for casualties where the wearing of a belt was not reported—about 11 per cent. of all casualties.

  1991

  1992

  1993

  Killed

  Injured

  Killed

  Injured

  Killed

  Injured

  Car or van drivers

  23

  332

  27

  305

  26

  285

  Car or van passengers

  52

  1501

  28

  1,087

  24

  913

  Front seat car passengers

  15

  149

  13

  142

  8

  129

  Rear seat car passengers

  29

  1,242

  13

  874

  16

  733

  All van passengers

  8

  110

  2

  71

  —

  51

  Separate information on the number of casualties in Scotland saved by wearing seat belts is not available, but for Great Britain as a whole it is estimated that 510 lives and 8,800 serious injuries have been saved each year as a result of seat belts being worn.

  Student Grants
  Mr. Welsh
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate the cost of making student grants available at 1990 levels in 1996–97 prices in Scotland. [9080]

  Mr. Raymond S. Robertson
  [holding answer 12 December 1996]Expenditure on student awards in Scotland in financial year 1990–91 was £172.46 million.
  574
  The equivalent cost at 1996–97 prices, adjusted for the increased number of award holders, is estimated to be £333,657 million.

  Nursery Vouchers
  Mr. Wallace
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of the administrative cost in each local authority area in Scotland of implementing the nursery voucher scheme in the first full year of its operation. [8969]

  Mr. Raymond S. Robertson
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]The operational evaluation of the pilot year voucher schemes which I have commissioned from a research team at Stirling university will look, amongst other things, at the impact on providers, including the four piloting authorities, of introducing the voucher system. This research will be published following submission of the research team's final report in early autumn 1997.

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

  BSE
  Mr. John Townend
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement about bovine spongiform encephalopathy. [10143]

  Mr. Douglas Hogg
  A further report on bovine spongiform encephalopathy was placed in the Library of the House today.

  The report gives an update on new virus Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease cases and explains the new measures taken on cattle identification and animal feed. Reference is made to the five point plan agreed in Florence for the resumption of exports and explains that all the preconditions, with the exception of the accelerated slaughter programme, have been complied with. It also details the sustained improvement in the handling of specified bovine material in slaughterhouses. The report also announces the occurrence of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy in a domestic cat born after the extension of the specified bovine ban in September 1990.
  575
  The number of clinically suspect cases of BSE reported in Great Britain has continued to fall, and at 31 October 1996 was 36.1 per cent. less than at the same time in 1995, and 63.3 per cent. less than the same time in 1994. A continued improvement is expected for the future.

  Renderers and Abattoirs (Prosecutions)
  Mr. Martyn Jones
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list each prosecution initiated by his Department which has now been completed against(a) renderers, (b) abattoirs, (c) livestock dealers, (d) animal feed manufacturers and (e) pet food manufacturers in each year since 1990, with in each case the (i) name of the individual or organisation prosecuted, (ii) nature of the charges and (iii) outcome of the prosecution; and if he will make a statement. [3505]

  Mr. Boswell
  Available records do not reveal any prosecutions as having been instituted by the Department against(a) renderers, (d) animal feed manufacturers, or (e) pet food manufacturers during the years in question.

  The following prosecutions, initiated by the Department, have been completed in the relevant years.

  1990
  One prosecution of an abattoir under the pig carcase grading regulations. Convictions on three charges sustained on appeal. Conviction now spent.

  1991
  One prosecution of a livestock dealer for offences in relation to certification for export of squirrel monkeys. Conviction now spent.

  1992
  No relevant prosecutions.

  1993
  One prosecution of a livestock dealer by name of White for offences relating to movement of animal records. Fined a total of £2,500, ordered to pay £1,000 costs.

  1994
  One prosecution of an abattoir by name of Casemore for offences in relation to maximum residue limits in meat, and record keeping. Fined a total of £800, ordered to pay £400 costs.
  One prosecution of a mink keeper by name of Smith for keeping mink on unlicensed premises. Fined £5,000, ordered to pay £700 costs.

  1995
  One prosecution of a company called Towers Barron Ltd. for acting as a cutting premises without a licence. Fined a total of £2,750, ordered to pay £1,423 costs.
  One prosecution of an individual called White for three similar offences. Fined a total of £1,000, ordered to pay £1,340 costs.
  One prosecution of a livestock dealer called Shone for offences relating to export certification for horses. Fined £1,500, ordered to pay £4,000 costs.

  1996 (to date)
  One prosecution of an abattoir called Bakers for failure to stain, and failure to separate specified bovine offal. Fined a total of £3,000, ordered to pay £2,000 costs.
  One prosecution of an abattoir run by an individual called Kellow for similar offences. Fined £1,500, ordered to pay £1,050 costs.
  One prosecution of an abattoir called Stillmans (Somerset) Ltd. for similar offences. Fined a total of £7,500, ordered to pay £3,000 costs.
  One prosecution of an abattoir run by Blackpool Abattoir Co. Ltd. for failure to separate specified bovine material. Fined £3,000, ordered to pay £1,818 costs.
  576
  One prosecution of an individual called Townsend who worked in an abattoir premises for using vertebral bones in the production of mechanically recovered meat. Fined £600, ordered to pay £1,380 costs.
  One prosecution for unlicensed slaughtering against an individual called Newall. Fined £2,000, ordered to pay £1,500 costs.
  One prosecution of a slaughterman in an abattoir under welfare rules. Fined £250.
  One prosecution of a livestock dealer called Smith for record keeping offences. Fined a total of £3,800, ordered to pay £5,767 costs.
  One prosecution of an individual called Hart for unlicensed cutting. Fined a total of £900, ordered to pay £500 costs.

  To research these matters to provide more details of the prosecutions would entail excessive cost.

  Mammalian Meat and Bone Meal (Transport)
  Mr. Martyn Jones
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what provisions other than the Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995 provide for the decontamination of vehicles used to transport mammalian meat and bone meal from potentially BSE-infected cattle; and if he will make a statement. [7947]

  Mrs. Browning
  Regulation 14 of the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Order 1996 requires any vehicle used to transport mammalian meat and bone meal, or material containing mammalian meat and bone meal, to be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected as soon as possible after the transport ceases and in any event before the vehicle is used for any other purpose.

  Countryside Stewardship Scheme
  Sir Robert Hicks
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the number of applications(a) made during 1996 for the countryside stewardship scheme, (i) in total and (ii) for Devon and Cornwall; and if he will indicate the number (1) approved and (2) being processed; and (b) made in 1995 which have not yet been determined. [8693]

  Mr. Boswell
  Some 2,545 countryside stewardship applications were received during the 1996 application period; 1,336 have been identified for approval, of which 124 were in Devon and Cornwall. A total of 163 agreement offers have been issued, six in Devon and Cornwall, and the target is to issue all the remainder by the end of January.

  Of the applications received, 873 have been rejected, 42 of which are in Devon and Cornwall. The remainder are still being processed.

  Four 1995 applications in Devon and Cornwall passed to the Ministry by the Countryside Commission have not yet been determined. The equivalent figure for the scheme as a whole is not readily available.

  Sir Robert Hicks
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the average length of time his Department takes to process and approve applications for the countryside stewardship scheme; and if he will make a statement. [8694]

  Mr. Boswell
  The average length of time to process agreements in 1996 is likely to be about six months. This is no longer than had been expected, owing in part to
  577
  receipt of more applications than expected. It is the Ministry's intention to reduce the processing time for 1997.

  Organic Produce
  Mr. Gordon Prentice
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the scope for increasing the size of the United Kingdom market for organic produce. [9221]

  Mr. Boswell
  The size of the market for organic produce will be determined by consumer demand and industry efforts to promote the market. However, it is already evident that demand is strong and that much is being met by imports. The Government are doing a great deal to encourage farmers and growers to respond. As well as providing aid for conversion to organic production, we also provide free advisory services and fund the United Kingdom register of organic food standards and a substantial organic research and development programme.

  Legislation
  Mrs. Roche
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many items of legislation relating to his Department have been repealed since January 1994; how many statutory instruments were introduced during that same period; and how many of the latter were(a) deregulatory and (b) fee orders. [9345]

  Mr. Boswell
  I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster today.

  Fishing Permits
  Mr. Spearing
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress has been made concerning the scheme of fishing permits proposed for adoption after 2002. [9662]

  Mr. Baldry
  Council regulations 3760/92 and 1627/94 already provide the framework for Community licence and permit systems to enable member states to regulate fishing activities. These are the basis of the detailed measures in western waters introduced on 1 January 1996. The UK industry is therefore already familiar with these arrangements, which involves licences issued by UK fisheries Departments. The Government would reject any proposals to take away such national responsibilities and introduce a single EU fishing fleet managed and policed from Brussels.

HOME DEPARTMENT

  Police Service (Female Appointments)
  Mr. Barry Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many female chief constables there have been since 1966. [8859]

  Mr. Maclean
  The first female chief constable was appointed on 31 July 1995 to Lancashire Constabulary. A second female chief constable was recently appointed to Wiltshire Constabulary with effect from 1 April 1997.
  578
  Mr. Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to ensure that female police officers reach senior positions; and if he will make a statement. [8861]

  Mr. Maclean
  The police service, supported by the Government, actively pursues equal opportunities policies. Such policies directly affect the numbers of female police officers who are now able to reach the more senior ranks.

  Every force has an equal opportunities statement which includes sections on unfair discrimination, and which is supported by a grievance procedure.

  In addition, forces are committed to open selection and promotion systems and make regular use of the Equal Opportunities Commission codes of practice on selection and promotion.

  Her Majesty's inspectorate of constabulary has been a driving force behind many equal opportunities initiatives and maintains an oversight of equal opportunity issues within the police service. The inspectorate carries out regular inspections of forces and monitors the implementation of equal opportunities policies.

  Police forces are also subject, in common with other employers, to the requirements of the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. These require forces not to discriminate on the basis of race, colour, ethnic or national origin or gender in the recruitment and promotion of staff.

  Mr. Barry Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many female(a) chief constables, (b) deputy chief constables, (c) assistant chief constables, (d) chief superintendents and (e) superintendents there are currently. [8860]

  Mr. Maclean
  At present there is one chief constable, although there will be two with effect from 1 April 1997. There are seven assistant chief constables and 41 superintendents, the ranks of deputy chief constables and chief superintendent having been abolished in 1995.

  Children and Crime Report
  Mr. Thurnham
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the recommendations of the recent Institute of Public Policy and Research report, "Children and Crime: Taking Responsibility". [8944]

  Mr. Maclean
  I cannot comment as I have not seen the report. If the hon. Member would like to send me a copy, I shall be happy to consider it.

  Physical and Sexual Abuse
  Mr. Allen
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research his Department has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into (i) the effects of physical and sexual abuse and (ii) the correlation between such abuse and offending. [9301]

  Mr. Maclean
  The Home Department has not carried out any research which specifically examines these questions.

  Mr. Allen
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of
  579
  convicted offenders who have suffered physical or sexual abuse in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [9300]

  Mr. Maclean
  None. The information which would be required to make such estimates is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

  Police Helmets
  Mr. Gordon Prentice
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the traditional police helmet will be replaced by a new design. [9217]

  Mr. Maclean
  This is an operational matter for chief officers of police.

  I understand that the Association of Chief Police Officers established a uniform project group in 1995 to research the national requirements for uniform and uniform-related equipment. Among the issues that the group is considering is the design of the traditional helmet, having regard for the need to afford police officers adequate protection.

  It is important to preserve the reassuring image and tradition which the existing helmet helps bring to officers on foot patrol. We are, therefore, working with ACPO to ensure that any redesign of the helmet fully takes into account this unique symbol of the British "bobby" and will seek to preserve the traditional style so far as it is compatible with affording officers the protection they deserve.

  Young Offenders
  Mr. Alex Carlile
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many juveniles were(a) cautioned and (b) found guilty of indictable offences, in each of the last 17 years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [9091]

  Mr. Maclean
  Information available centrally on the number of young offenders cautioned and found guilty for indictable offences is published annually in "Criminal Statistics England and Wales". Table 5.26 of the 1995 edition, table 5.23 of the 1989 edition and table 5.19 of the 1983 edition refer.

  Copies of the publications are available in the Library.

  Mr. Carlile
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of recorded offenders were juveniles in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [9092]

  Mr. Maclean
  The information is given in the table.

  Persons aged 10 to 17 found guilty or cautioned for indictable offences as a proportion of all offenders by sex 1991–95

  England and Wales

  Percentages

  Sex

  1991

  1992

  1993

  1994

  1995

  Males

  26

  25

  24

  24

  25

  Females

  32

  33

  31

  34

  34

  Persons

  27

  27

  25

  26

  26

  Sir Ivan Lawrence
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of 580
  the joint statement on the sentencing of persistent young offenders recently issued by the Magistrates Association and Justices' Clerks Society. [9860]

  Mr. Maclean
  I very much welcome this excellent statement which encourages speedier sentencing of persistent young offenders.

  The statement suggests that, when dealing with those who have committed multiple or "spree" offences, it would be right for the court to sentence for the offences currently before it rather than wait for further alleged offences to come to trial. Such steps should help to reduce the number of adjournments that may be needed, speed up youth justice and ensure that these offenders are promptly and properly punished.

  I commend the Magistrates Association and Justices' Clerks Society for drawing up this guidance, which has been widely distributed within the criminal justice system.

  Offenders (Ages)
  Mr. Alex Carlile
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the peak age of offending for men and women in(a) London and (b) England and Wales in (i) 1979, (ii) 1990 and (iii) the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [9096]

  Mr. Maclean
  I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him on 10 December 1996,Official Report, columns 134–35.

  Legislation
  Mrs. Roche
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many items of legislation relating to his Department have been repealed since January 1994; how many statutory instruments were introduced during the same period; and how many of the latter were(a) deregulatory and (b) fee orders. [9363]

  Mr. Howard
  I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster today.

  Police Officers (Private Hire)
  Mr. Kirkwood
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how much income from the hiring of police officers by private companies was raised by each regional police authority in England and Wales in each year since 1990; and if he will make a statement; [9503]

  (2) what guidelines he has issued to police authorities on the hiring of police officers by private companies; and if he will make a statement. [9502]

  Mr. Maclean
  Police Officers are not available for hire. Statistics on police income are published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, but these do not distinguish income derived from private companies.

  Mentally 111 People (Prosecutions)
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many mentally ill people receiving care
  581
  in the community have been (a) prosecuted and (b) found guilty of (i) non-violent and (ii) violent crimes in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [9610]

  Mr. Maclean
  The information is not collected.

  Bus Attacks (Gwent)
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many attacks on(a) passengers and (b) staff have been (i) reported, (ii) resulted in prosecutions and (iii) resulted in convictions in each of the last five years broken down by (1) gender and (2) age bands of 10 years in each of the bus companies operating in the Gwent region; and if he will make a statement. [9609]

  Mr. Maclean
  The information is not collected.

  Vehicle Crime
  Mr. Jamieson
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to review the statute of limitations for juvenile offenders involved in car crime. [9426]

  Mr. Maclean
  The Government are committed to tackling juvenile crime and have made a number of legislative changes specifically aimed at strengthening the courts' powers for dealing with young offenders. However, we are not aware that the limitation causes problems in practice and there are no plans at present to undertake any such review.

  Mr. Jamieson
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the maximum sentence that can be passed on a 17-year-old convicted of reckless driving. [9428]

  Mr. Maclean
  The maximum sentence that can be passed on a 17-year-old convicted on indictment of dangerous driving is two years detention and/or a fine of up to £1,000. Disqualification from driving is obligatory on conviction for this offence.

  Mr. Jamieson
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the maximum time after which the prosecution can be brought for a vehicle crime. [9427]

  Mr. Maclean
  Under section 127 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980, proceedings for summary offences, which include offences such as taking a vehicle without consent, must be commenced within six months of the date when the alleged offence occurred.

  In the case of theft or aggravated vehicle-taking, where a vehicle is taken unlawfully without consent and there is dangerous driving, damage or injury to others before the vehicle is recovered, the offence can be tried either in a magistrates court or in the Crown court and no time limit applies.

  Justice and Home Affairs Council
  Sir Ivan Lawrence
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the outcome of the Justice and Home Affairs Council held in Brussels on 28 and 29 November. [9859]

  Mr. Howard
  I represented the United Kingdom at the Council. The main matters dealt with were as follows:
  582
  The Council agreed as "A" points, among other things, a joint action creating a directory of competences in the fight against organised crime, and a joint action establishing a European Community funded incentive and exchange programme to combat trafficking in human beings and child sex abuse.

  The presidency reported progress in negotiations on the draft external frontiers convention, and on the Europol draft regulations. The United Kingdom hopes to ratify the Europol convention before the end of the year.

  Meetings were held with Ministers of associated central and eastern European countries and, separately, with Cyprus. These concentrated on the fight against drugs and the need to co-operate against trafficking in human beings and paedophile rings.

  Two reports were considered on the fight against organised crime, one dealing with the situation in 1995, the other looking forward to future possibilities for closer co-operation and assistance. The first report will be presented to the European Parliament in due course.

  A joint action was agreed concerning action to combat trafficking in human beings and sexual abuse of children.

  A draft report to the European Council on drugs in the European Union was discussed. Some amendments were agreed and the report will now be forwarded, via the General Affairs Council, to the European Council.

  There was extensive discussion of a draft joint action, proposed by France, on approximation of laws and practices to combat drug consumption and drug trafficking. While a strong will was shown on all sides to combat drug trafficking, final agreement of the text of the action was deferred pending further consultations by several countries.

  Agreement was reached on a draft resolution on sentencing for serious illicit drug trafficking. The text will now be submitted to the European Council.

  The presidency outlined proposals for settling the outstanding issue of European Court of Justice jurisdiction in the draft convention on corruption. More work was commissioned on these proposals.

  A report to the European Council on achievements in the field of justice and home affairs was briefly discussed. The text will now be finalised and forwarded to the European Council.

  A brief summary was given of activities in the field of crime prevention, including the outcome of recent seminars and proposals for a follow-up seminar next year.

  Priorities were outlined by the Netherlands for its presidency in the first half of 1997. These included implementation of the Europol convention, further work on action to combat drugs and organised crime, trafficking in human beings and abuse of the Internet, and development of the structured dialogue with the countries which are candidates for accession.

  Discussions took place on aspects of the draft convention on the service of documents in civil and judicial matters. In the absence of agreement, further work was commissioned.
  583
  Conventions were signed allowing Sweden, Austria and Finland to accede to two conventions on jurisdiction and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters and on the law applicable to contractual obligations. Protocols were signed providing on an optional basis for European Court of Justice jurisdiction in the European Union conventions on the protection of the European Communities financial interests and on the use of information technology for customs purposes.

  Closed Circuit Television Challenge
  Sir Ivan Lawrence
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many bids have been received in the latest CCTV challenge competition; and if he will make a statement. [9861]

  Mr. Maclean
  The deadline for bids under round 3 of the closed circuit television challenge competition was 20 November. A total of £15 million is available to crime prevention partnerships in 1997–98 to support CCTV schemes and 371 bids have been received; the value of the bids is £26.8 million. The bids are now subject to detailed assessment. We shall be announcing the results of the competition early next year.

  "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans"
  Mr. Derek Foster
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what costs quoted in the document "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" were prepared in his Department; what detailed assumptions and interpretations were provided to officials in his Department to enable preparation of each cost; and what was the total cost to public funds of preparing each estimate. [6354]

  Mr. Howard
  The Home Office, in conjunction with Treasury, prepared factual material relating to costings published in "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" numbered 25, 26 and 89. The detailed assumptions and interpretations that were provided to officials are set out in my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary's reply to the hon. Member today. It is not normal working practice to keep a record of the time spent in providing factual information to Ministers and it is not therefore possible to offer a reliable estimate of the costs involved.

  Stolen Guns and Vehicles (Deaths and Injuries)
  Mr. David Young
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been(a) killed and (b) injured by (i) stolen pistols and (ii) stolen motor vehicles in each of the last five years. [8945]

  Mr. Maclean
  [holding answer 13 December 1996]Information as to whether firearms used in offences have been stolen has not, in the past, been routinely collected centrally in England and Wales. However, a special exercise has recently been conducted to find out whether the guns used in homicide were licensed or not and, if not, whether they were stolen.

  This covered the years 1992 to 1994, and out of a total of 55 homicides involving the use of a handgun where it was known that the weapon was illegally held, one was reported to have been stolen.
  584
  No information is held centrally to show whether motor vehicles involved in killing or injuring people were stolen.

  Child Abuse
  Sir Sydney Chapman
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the operation of the law in relation to the prosecution of child abuse cases. [7629]

  Mr. Maclean
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]The Government commissioned several independent research projects to look into the effectiveness of measures introduced by the Criminal Justice Acts of 1988 and 1991 to improve the handling of cases involving child witnesses. These examined the use of live television links for giving evidence and the use of video-recorded interviews for giving evidence-in-chief, and the speed of prosecutions for cases involving child witnesses. Further research has been commissioned to evaluate the effectiveness of training given to those involved in child abuse investigations and into the admissibility and sufficiency of evidence gathered during those investigations, the results of which will be available at the end of 1997.

  The findings from the completed research have shown that the legislation, and other supporting measures introduced by the Government have improved the management of child abuse cases. The Government will continue to make further changes where we consider, in the light of research and other information, they will bring further improvements.

  Police (Contracted-out Services)
  Mr. Spearing
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what studies he has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the effects of contracting out services supplied by civilian personnel of police forces, with particular reference to (i) the morale of those currently employed, (ii) the security of information, (iii) unpredictable surges of work due to emergencies, (iv) discipline, (v) collective levels of skills and experience and (vi) the quality of communication with the forces concerned. [8810]

  Mr. Maclean
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]These are operational matters for chief officers. As police authority for the Metropolitan police, I am aware that there has been a recent review of support services for the force and the Commissioner has advised me of the recommendations made and the decisions reached.

  Police (Civil Staff)
  Mr. Alex Carlile
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement concerning recent changes to the employment conditions, terms and contracts of Metropolitan police civil staff support services; what consultation took place on those changes; how many staff are affected; what is the cost of implementing the changes with particular reference to(a) consultancy fees, (b) redundancies and (c) early retirement plans; when the changes will be fully implemented. [8882]

  Mr. Maclean
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]I understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that there has been no recent change to the
  585
  employment contracts of Metropolitan police civil staff. A review has been conducted of headquarters support services covering 5,000 staff. Following a two-month consultation period, proposals for a range of efficiency savings, including contracting-out services covering some 2,000 posts, have been approved by the Metropolitan police policy board. Contracts are expected to be let by mid 1998. Detailed implementation costs are not yet available.

  Charity Collections
  Mr. Alex Carlile
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (i) prosecutions and (ii) convictions there have been, in each of the last three years for which figures are available, for breaches of licensing rules on street and house-to-house charity collections in(a) the Metropolitan police district, (b) the City of London police district, (c) for each other area in the United Kingdom and (d) in total; and if he will make a statement. [8884]

  Mr. Maclean
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]Information collected centrally does not identify individual offences committed under the Police Factories etc. (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916 and the House to House Collections Act 1939 from other summary offences.

  Mr. Carlile
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to require each police station in the Metropolitan police district to be supplied with a regular list of street collection licences in that area; and if he will make a statement. [8886]

  Mr. Maclean
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]I understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that police stations within the Metropolitan police district are routinely informed of all authorised charitable street collections in their area.

  Charity Fraud
  Mr. Alex Carlile
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide a statistical breakdown of prosecutions and convictions for charity fraud offences in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [8885]

  Mr. Maclean
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]The information is not available centrally.

  Immigration Detainees
  Mr. Madden
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are currently detained for immigration purposes; what is the longest period of detention; how many people detained for immigration purposes have, over each of the last three years, obtained bail; what procedures exist under which a person detained for immigration purposes may apply for bail; and if he will make a statement [9176]

  Mr. Kirkhope
  [holding answer 16 December 1996]The latest information relates to 31 October 1996 when 1,033 persons were detained solely under Immigration Act powers in Prison Service establishments or Immigration Service detention centres. The longest period of detention at that time was 75 months and related to a586
  person since released whose case was awaiting a decision from the European Court of Human Rights. Statistics on detainees who obtained bail are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. With certain limited exceptions, anyone who is detained can apply for bail. An application can be made to a chief immigration officer, a police inspector or an immigration adjudicator.

WALES

  "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans"
  Mr. Derek Foster
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what costs quoted in the document, "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans", were prepared in his Department; what detailed assumptions and interpretations were provided to officials in his Department to enable preparation of each cost; and what was the total cost to public funds of preparing each estimate. [6347]

  Mr. Hague
  The estimate of the cost of establishing the Welsh Assembly published in "New Labour's Public Expenditure Plans" was made by me. It is not the normal practice to keep a record of the time spent in providing factual information to Ministers and it is not therefore possible to offer a reliable estimate of the costs involved.

  Energy Advisers
  Mr. Alan W. Willians
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what progress has been made in meeting the commitment laid down in the energy plan for Wales published in 1989 of establishing a network of energy advisers over the Principality. [8696]

  Mr. Jonathan Evans
  The Welsh Office's Energy and Environment Office has a network of five energy advisers across Wales who provide free, impartial advice during site visits. The advisers are continually trained and developed to provide businesses and other organisations with effective advice on the efficient use of energy.

  Prescribed Drugs (Adverse Effects)
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many people(a) were prescribed and (b) took the steroid Prednisolone in Wales in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [9643]

  Mr. Gwilym Jones
  Information collected centrally relates to the number of prescription items dispensed. Available information shows that there were 610,750 prescriptions, excluding drugs used in hospitals, dispensed for Prednisolone between June 1994 and July 1996. This does not, however, indicate the number of people being prescribed or taking the drug as one person can have more than one prescription dispensed during the period in question.

  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many people have(a) become crippled and (b) died from taking the steroid Prednisolone in Wales in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [9642]
  587
  Mr. Jones
  Information on the number of people crippled by taking Prednisolone is not available centrally. There were no deaths, as a result of taking Prednisolone, recorded in Wales between 1993 and 1995—the only years for which these data are readily available.

  Medical Procedures (Complications)
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will estimate(a) how many people and (b) the percentage of people who have been admitted to hospital as a direct result of complications after (i) surgery and (ii) medicinal treatment in Wales in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [9644]

  Mr. Gwilym Jones
  Due to the complexity of the data analysis required, I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my reply in the Library of the House.

  St. David's Medical Centre, Cardiff
  Mr. Morgan
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what official engagement the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Cardiff, North (Mr. Jones) had with Mr. Dusan Bako and Dr. Angelina Bako and others at the St. David's Medical Centre, Pentwyn drive, Pentwyn, Cardiff on Monday 9 December. [9505]

  Mr. Gwilym Jones
  None.

  Mr. Morgan
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on what date his Department(a) set and (b) informed the parties of the date of the oral hearing into the inclusion of Triocare in the list at the St. David's Medical Centre, Pentwyn drive, Pentwyn, Cardiff under the NHS Pharmaceutical Regulations 1992. [9504]

  Mr. Hague
  My officials are presently in the process of setting the date of the oral hearing and informing all parties.

  Objective 2 Status
  Mr. Morgan
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent consultations he has had with the member of 588
  the European Commission responsible for regional affairs concerning objective 2 status for industrial south Wales. [9506]

  Mr. Hague
  My hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, North met the European Commissioner responsible for Regional Affairs on 6 December when they discussed the successor objective 2 single programming document for industrial south Wales.

  Public Expenditure Statement Leak
  Mr. Ron Davies
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the outcome of the inquiry that he has set up into the leaking to the press on Tuesday 10 December of the contents of his statement on the 1997–98 Welsh Office budget. [9507]

  Mr. Hague
  I refer the hon. Member to the statement that I made to the House on Thursday 12 December,Official Report, column 412. I will keep him informed about the progress of the inquiry and will let him know the outcome when the investigation is complete.

  Legislation
  Mrs. Roche
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many items of legislation relating to his Department have been repealed since January 1994; how many statutory instruments were introduced during the same period; and how many of the latter were(a) deregulatory and (b) fee orders. [9372]

  Mr. Hague
  I refer the hon. Lady to the answer given today by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

  New Health Authorities
  Mr. Morgan
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his 1996 departmental report, Cm 3215, page 79, if he will make a statement on progress in achieving the savings of £8 million arising from the setting up of the five new health authorities. [9508]

  Mr. Hague
  The savings targets of the five unified health authorities, established on 1 April this year, are linked to full implementation of all related charges and I expect to see savings achieved in 1998–99. Progress towards the targets will be monitored through the health authority annual accounts.

  Serbia: Annulment of Election Results
  Serbia: Annulment of Election Results
  UNIDO
  UNIDO
  Israeli Defence Minister's UK Visit
  Israeli Defence Minister's UK Visit
  Haifa University Nuclear Weapons Seminar
  Haifa University Nuclear Weapons Seminar
  Iran and Iraq: Anglo-Israeli Counter-proliferation Measures
  Iran and Iraq: Anglo-Israeli Counter-proliferation Measures
  Anglo-Israeli Defence Relationship
  Anglo-Israeli Defence Relationship
  Israeli-Palestinian Relations
  Israeli-Palestinian Relations
  Justice and Home Affairs Council, 28th and 29th November
  Justice and Home Affairs Council, 28th and 29th November
  War Pension Changes
  War Pension Changes
  Crown Court Defendants Found Guilty: Corrected Statistics
  Crown Court Defendants Found Guilty: Corrected Statistics
  Child Labour: UNICEF Allegations
  Child Labour: UNICEF Allegations
  Family Health Services: White Papers
  Family Health Services: White Papers
  Bus Drivers: Use of Mobile Phones
  Bus Drivers: Use of Mobile Phones
  London Buses: Safety Enforcement
  London Buses: Safety Enforcement
  Sulphur Dioxide Emissions: Protocol Ratification
  Sulphur Dioxide Emissions: Protocol Ratification
  Executive Agencies
  Executive Agencies
  Fishery Offences: Prosecutions
  Fishery Offences: Prosecutions