Written Answers of 27 March 2000

HOME DEPARTMENT

  Crime Fighting Fund
  Mr. Jim Cunningham
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide further details about the additional money for fighting crime, which was announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Budget Statement on 21 March; and if he will make a statement. [116484]

  Mr. Straw
  As a result of the funding decisions outlined in the Budget statement, there will be a significant injection of £285 million for tackling crime and the causes of crime. This comprises capital modernisation funding of £185 million for a range of projects and a £100 million fund for modernising policing, of which around £91 million is for England and Wales and £9 million is for Scotland. £14 million of expenditure under the capital modernisation fund has been previously announced in respect of DNA. The rest represents new money.

  This funding will be used to step up the fight against crime in four key areas. It will speed up the recruitment of new officers; create more opportunities for local partnerships to tackle crime and disorder; provide further scientific and technological support to increase their effectiveness; and will develop and modernise the Criminal Justice System.

  Crime Fighting Fund

  The first deployment of resources from the £91 million fund for modernising policing will be utilised to enhance the crime fighting fund. Under the crime fighting fund, police forces have been allocated their shares of the 5,000 additional recruits over the next three years. This programme will now be brought forward with the aim of delivering all 5,000 within two years. Doubling the number to be recruited during the coming financial year will cost in the region of £11 million, above and beyond the £35 million which has already been provided for the current allocation. A further significant portion of the new £91 million funding will be used to assist the Metropolitan Police and other forces which are having particular difficulties with recruitment and retention, including the development of a national police recruiting campaign.

  Partnerships

  This new fund will also be an important contributor to strengthening the services which the police deliver including cutting crime. In that context, I will also want to look closely at the resources available to support the work with which the police are involved on local partnerships for tackling crime. In particular, I want to look at the resources to deal with local problems of
  2W
  anti-social behaviour, to improve information sharing between partner agencies, and to provide more effective training in the development and implementation of local crime reduction strategies. One specific new development in this area is that capital modernisation fund monies will provide £950,000 to Operation LION. This is a programme being piloted in London which will encourage the development of integrated strategies to reduce crime and improve community safety.

  Police—Science and Technology

  The capital modernisation fund will also boost the programme of work we already have in hand to roll out the latest and best in science and technology to the Police Service.

  We shall be applying £40 million of new capital modernisation funding, together with £6 million already set aside, to roll out a new suite of information technology applications to support police operations as part of the national strategy for police information systems. The new systems, one on case preparation, the other for custody suites, will reduce considerably the burden of paperwork and bureaucracy, releasing police manpower to their primary duties. These projects will also be at the heart of a network of information technology systems connecting the criminal justice system and improving the efficiency of the whole process.

  We are also using £25 million of the capital modernisation funding to establish a new Government technical assistance centre (GTAC). GTAC will enable us to respond to the threat to public safety from criminal use of encryption and will provide law enforcement agencies with the capability to derive intelligence and evidence from new information and communication technologies. It will make a difference between serious crime being prevented or punished and criminals going unpunished and free to continue their activities by providing techniques for lawful interception of modern multimedia communications. It will also improve facilities for deriving evidence from lawfully seized computer data.

  The programme to expand the national database of criminal DNA profiles, which the Prime Minister announced last September, will also start delivering on 1 April. The capital modernisation funding includes £14 million specifically for the DNA database, as part of the £34 million envelope of funding for the DNA project which has already been announced.

  A further £21 million has been allocated for the roll out of equipment to police forces for the video recording of interviews with suspects. The full roll out is subject to the evaluation of an initial pilot scheme and the necessary parliamentary legislation. But in principle, video taping will offer the prospect of an end to disputes in court about what actually happened during police interviews and thus deliver fairer administration of justice.

  Another significant project using the latest technology will receive funding to help the fight against property crime. £4.5 million is being provided to develop the electronic 'chipping' of goods. These electronic data tags will assist police officers or investigators in identifying and recovering stolen merchandise and be a powerful

  3W
  deterrent to would-be thieves, not only by increasing the risk of being caught but by making it more difficult for them to find purchasers of stolen merchandise.

  Modernising and Developing the Criminal Justice System

  In addition to investing in science and technology for the police, the extra resources announced in the budget will provide additional investment right across the criminal justice system. The aim is to help modernise the system as a whole and to deliver a more joined-up approach to tackling crime. It will also help to deliver the modern service that the public is entitled to expect from the criminal justice system. The new capital investment includes the following.

  Video links: £5.3 million to allow the innovative use of video conferencing technology to allow vulnerable or intimidated witnesses to give evidence remotely and also to allow defendants remanded in custody to take part in preliminary court hearings without leaving prison. This will build on the existing pilot schemes for video links between courts and prisons in Bristol and Manchester.

  Post release hostels for prisoners after drug treatment: £5 million to allow the establishment of post release support for prisoners who have served sentences of up to a year and have drug misuse as well as housing problems. This will help in reducing re-offending by a group of high risk offenders.

  Restructuring the prison estate: an investment of £40 million to modernise the prison estate. This will enable a start to be made on a programme to provide additional prison capacity. It will include creating additional capacity in existing prisons and converting spare capacity in open prisons as a result of the success of the home detention curfew into closed conditions.

  Joining up criminal justice system information technology systems: £1.48 million to provide a central resource for the criminal justice system integrating business and information systems (IBIS) initiative. This will be used to ensure that criminal justice service and agency information technology systems are developed so as to allow inter-operability between them. Inter-operability will support the fast access to information to the key business areas in the criminal justice system, from preparing cases through the court process to serving sentences.

  Criminal justice units: £5 million to enable the Crown Prosecution Service to invest in the infrastructure needed for new joint Crown Prosecution Service/police criminal justice units. These will lead to improved quality and timeliness of prosecution files, involve closer and better working relationships so as to eliminate the duplication of tasks, and will improve the handling of criminal justice casework and get it right first time.

  In addition to these projects, the Lord Chancellor will make an announcement next month about additional investment of £23 million to modernise the Crown Court.

  Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill
  Mr. Gerrard
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what costs relating to the establishment 4W
  of the Electoral Commission will be met in advance of Royal Assent being given to the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill. [116668]

  Mr. Straw
  It is in the public interest to ensure that the Commission is functioning at the earliest opportunity. I have made clear my wish that it should be up and running by this November. To meet this tight timetable, some costs such as those relating to the recruitment of the commissioners will necessarily be incurred before Royal Assent.

  Parliamentary approval to this service will be sought in a main estimate for the Electoral Commission Vote (Class XVIII, C, Vote 1). Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £300,000 will be met by repayable advances from the Contingencies Fund.

  Race Equality
  Mr. Gerrard
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will publish the basket of race equality performance indicators he has been developing. [116669]

  Mr. Straw
  I have today placed in the Library a copy of the document "Race Equality in Public Services—Driving Up Standards and Accounting for Progress". The document sets out performance data in a number of key areas which are of interest to ethnic minority communities, and provides a quantifiable way of demonstrating the Government's progress in promoting race equality.

  Sexual Assaults
  Mr. Baker
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of(a) rape of men and (b) other sexual assaults on men were reported in the last year for which figures are available; how many such incidents attracted charges; and how many convictions have resulted. [116103]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The numbers of reported incidents and charges are not collected centrally. The number of recorded rapes of men and indecent assaults on men, and the number of defendants proceeded against and offenders convicted of these offences in England and Wales for the year ending September 1999, are as follows:

  Rape of a male

  Indecent assault on a male

  Number of offences recorded in year ended September 1999

  571

  3,682

  Number of defendants proceeded against in year ended September 19991

  107

  562

  Number of offenders convicted in year ended September 19991

  54

  438

  1 Provisional data

  It should be noted that as the recorded crime figures relate to offences, and the numbers proceeded against and convicted relate to offenders, the two types of data cannot be directly compared.

  Freedom of Information
  Mr. Hawkins
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to publish his draft code of guidance in relation to his Freedom of Information Bill; and if he will make a statement. [116288]

  Mr. Mike O'Brien
  I expect to be able to make available shortly a working draft of the code of practice for which provision is made at clause 44 of the Freedom of Information Bill.

  Copies of the working draft will be placed in the Library.

  Probation Service
  Mr. Simon Hughes
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what(a) representations and (b) external legal advice he has received concerning the conformity of current contracts for the installation and operation of probation service information technology systems with public procurement regulations; and if he will make a statement. [116294]

  Mr. Boateng
  The Home Office discusses the arrangements for the procurement of information technology for probation purposes with interested parties from time to time. It is not our policy to disclose details of legal advice in relation to such commercial arrangements.

  Average number of prisoners held two to a cell designed for one

  Prison name

  1992–93

  1993–94

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1996–97

  1997–98

  1998–99

  Acklington

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Albany

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Altcourse

  —

  —

  —

  —

  —

  198

  203

  Ashwell

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Askham Grange

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Aylesbury

  3

  2

  0

  0

  1

  0

  0

  Bedford

  105

  94

  129

  132

  143

  119

  150

  Belmarsh

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Birmingham

  110

  474

  478

  578

  634

  753

  739

  Blakenhurst

  0

  0

  0

  134

  309

  360

  Blantyre House

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Blundeston

  4

  0

  0

  0

  2

  0

  0

  Brinsford

  35

  0

  0

  0

  31

  179

  153

  Bristol

  83

  131

  123

  126

  81

  92

  86

  Brixton

  284

  326

  292

  322

  358

  361

  337

  Brockhill

  10

  4

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Buckley Hall

  —

  —

  0

  2

  12

  9

  0

  Bullingdon

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  97

  Bullwood Hall

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  4

  Camp Hill

  31

  10

  2

  0

  27

  78

  115

  Canterbury

  78

  123

  158

  161

  211

  219

  219

  Cardiff

  187

  303

  311

  331

  314

  422

  458

  Castington

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Channings Wood

  0

  0

  72

  155

  211

  242

  223

  Chelmsford

  167

  239

  289

  305

  143

  27

  38

  Coldingley

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Cookham Wood

  0

  0

  14

  13

  43

  56

  77

  Dartmoor

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Deerbolt

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Doncaster

  —

  —

  124

  228

  399

  588

  626

  Dorchester

  76

  127

  142

  148

  176

  161

  157

  Dover

  32

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Downview

  0

  0

  0

  0

  5

  24

  32

  Drake Hall

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  2

  Durham

  340

  320

  375

  476

  659

  573

  519

  East Sutton Park

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Eastwood Park

  0

  0

  0

  6

  18

  Prison Accommodation
  Miss Widdecombe
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list, for each of the last 10 years for which figures are available, the average number of prisoners in each prison establishment being held two in a cell in a single cell; for what reason the Prison Service does not collect data on the number of prisoners held three in a double cell; and if he will make a statement. [116473]

  Mr. Boateng
  The average number of prisoners held two to a cell designed for one, in each prison establishment since 1992–93, is given in the table. Prisons that are not currently operational are excluded from the analysis.

  The Prison Service has never collected centrally the number of prisoners held three to a cell designed for two. Prisons provide data on the total overcrowding level and on the numbers held two to a cell designed for one, known as "doubling". Total overcrowding includes those held three to a cell for two and those overcrowded in dormitories and larger cells. Doubling is an appropriate measure of the true impact of overcrowding on individuals.

  Overcrowding, other than doubling, is not widespread. At the end of February 2000, only nine establishments reported a total overcrowding figure in excess of the numbers doubled.
  7W

  Average number of prisoners held two to a cell designed for one

  Prison name

  1992–93

  1993–94

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1996–97

  1997–98

  1998–99

  Elmley

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  38

  230

  Erlestoke

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Everthorpe

  0

  0

  0

  0

  26

  64

  64

  Exeter

  149

  273

  292

  304

  370

  364

  380

  Feathers tone

  16

  0

  0

  0

  7

  0

  0

  Feltham

  0

  0

  0

  0

  3

  21

  26

  Ford

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Foston Hall

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Frankland

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Full Sutton

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Garth

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Gartree

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Glen Parva

  88

  155

  171

  196

  239

  272

  243

  Gloucester

  67

  88

  106

  102

  116

  162

  162

  Grendon

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Guys Marsh

  0

  0

  0

  1

  20

  40

  42

  Haslar

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Hatfield

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Haverigg

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  5

  Hewell Grange

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Highdown

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  30

  0

  Highpoint

  0

  0

  0

  0

  12

  32

  42

  Hindley

  183

  209

  105

  12

  7

  14

  0

  Hollesley Bay

  0

  0

  0

  0

  8

  24

  4

  Holloway

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Holme House

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  84

  72

  Hull

  34

  163

  204

  153

  124

  6

  11

  Huntercombe

  0

  0

  0

  0

  1

  15

  16

  Kingston

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Kirkham

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Kirklevington

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Lancaster

  54

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Lancaster Farms

  0

  0

  0

  0

  24

  46

  57

  Latchmere House

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Leeds

  0

  743

  621

  537

  67

  318

  545

  Leicester

  167

  281

  286

  267

  271

  284

  279

  Lewes

  165

  164

  142

  15

  31

  32

  31

  Leyhill

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Lincoln

  254

  394

  440

  429

  499

  440

  340

  Lindholme

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Littlehey

  0

  0

  8

  0

  14

  42

  48

  Liverpool

  499

  465

  466

  264

  206

  446

  442

  Long Lartin

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Low Newton

  120

  168

  151

  203

  232

  251

  179

  Lowdham Grange

  —

  —

  —

  —

  0

  0

  0

  Maidstone

  0

  0

  0

  0

  10

  45

  41

  Manchester

  134

  205

  191

  407

  466

  437

  399

  Moorland

  0

  0

  0

  0

  39

  56

  45

  Morton Hall

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Mount

  0

  0

  0

  0

  38

  71

  69

  New Hall

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  28

  52

  North Sea Camp

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Northallerton

  75

  101

  126

  135

  215

  254

  233

  Norwich

  76

  128

  162

  26

  0

  114

  128

  Nottingham

  10

  13

  10

  8

  0

  0

  0

  Onley

  30

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Pare

  —

  —

  —

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Parkhurst

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  35

  33

  Pentonville

  230

  364

  445

  557

  584

  419

  380

  Portland

  10

  0

  54

  40

  41

  90

  90

  Preston

  124

  320

  304

  273

  362

  510

  533

  Ranby

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  50

  50

  Reading

  55

  117

  123

  65

  97

  115

  138

  Risley

  8

  0

  0

  0

  14

  38

  74

  Rochester

  37

  15

  5

  4

  6

  0

  0

  Send

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Shepton Mallet

  55

  22

  0

  0

  92

  119

  100

  Shrewsbury

  136

  230

  217

  241

  277

  297

  281

  Stafford

  45

  0

  296

  381

  226

  0

  0

  Standford Hill

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Stocken

  0

  0

  0

  0

  36

  52

  41

  Stoke Heath

  31

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  8W 9W

  Average number of prisoners held two to a cell designed for one

  Prison name

  1992–93

  1993–94

  1994–95

  1995–96

  1996–97

  1997–98

  1998–99

  Styal

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Sudbury

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Swaleside

  0

  0

  0

  18

  33

  9

  0

  Swansea

  105

  148

  130

  149

  185

  235

  221

  Swinfen Hall

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  38

  0

  Thorn Cross

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Usk

  0

  0

  2

  60

  94

  117

  146

  Verne

  0

  0

  0

  0

  13

  37

  39

  Wakefield

  0

  0

  0

  0

  73

  98

  22

  Wandsworth

  274

  217

  199

  191

  156

  193

  316

  Wayland

  0

  0

  0

  0

  24

  50

  44

  Wealstun

  0

  0

  0

  0

  4

  10

  10

  Weare

  —

  —

  —

  —

  0

  0

  0

  Wellingborough

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Werrington

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Wetherby

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Whatton

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Whitemoor

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Winchester

  126

  137

  182

  181

  245

  304

  272

  Wolds

  0

  2

  16

  1

  0

  0

  0

  Woodhill

  0

  0

  0

  0

  38

  106

  95

  Wormwood Scrubs

  322

  468

  425

  305

  289

  378

  299

  Wymott

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  0

  Home Detention Curfew Scheme
  Miss Widdecombe
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 22 March 2000,Official Report, column 561W, on the home detention curfew scheme, what specific offences are defined as (a) other homicide and attempted homicide, (b) other motoring offences and (c) other offences; how many offenders were released having been convicted of each specific offence; and if he will make a statement. [116482]

  Mr. Boateng
  Further details of the offences defined as other homicide and attempted homicide, other motoring offences and other offences, and the number of prisoners convicted of each type of offence who have been released on home detention curfew are shown in the table.

  No eligible prisoner can be granted home detention curfew without first passing a risk assessment. The risk assessment addresses the risk to the public and the likelihood of the prisoner re-offending during his time on curfew. The details of the offence in each case will be known to the establishment before a risk assessment and release on home detention curfew can take place. The nature of the current offence, together with previous offending history, are important factors that are taken into account in assessing a prisoner's suitability for the scheme. Prisons have been instructed that prisoners who present a clear and immediate threat to the public must not be released on home detention curfew.

  Offence

  Number

  Other homicide and attempted homicide

  Attempted murder

  5

  Threats to kill

  29

  Conspiracy, aid and incite murder

  1

  Death by reckless driving

  115

  Total

  150

  10W

  Offence

  Number

  Other motoring offences

  Other motoring offences1

  1,239

  Reckless driving

  291

  Total

  1,530

  Other offences

  Procuration

  4

  False imprisonment

  22

  Bail Act offences

  4

  Assisting illegal immigrant

  49

  Minor firearms offences

  6

  Other indictable offences2

  548

  Escaping lawful custody

  6

  Making off without paying

  2

  Criminal attempts

  7

  Contempt of court

  1

  Deportee/detainee

  4

  Vagrancy Act offences

  2

  Cruelty etc. to animals

  18

  Total

  673

  1 Recorded under this code by individual establishments

  2 Other indicatable offences

  Miss Widdecombe
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 22 March 2000,Official Report, columns 561-62W, on the home detention curfew scheme, how many offenders who committed further offences while on the scheme committed an offence similar in character to that for which they were originally convicted; if he will provide a breakdown by type of offence of such offenders; and if he will make a statement. [116479]

  Mr. Boateng
  According to Prison Service records, of the 185 curfewees referred to in the reply I gave on 22 March 2000,Official Report, columns 561-62W, who have been charged with a further offence while subject to home detention curfew, 74 have been charged with an offence similar to that for which they were serving a

  11W
  sentence of imprisonment prior to being released on curfew. The table gives a breakdown of the types of offences committed.

  One of the factors addressed in the home detention curfew risk assessment is the likelihood of the prisoner re-offending during his time on curfew. If the offender's past history and current circumstances suggest that there is a probability that he will return to offending within the curfew period, release must be refused.

  An evaluation of the home detention curfew scheme is being carried out by the Research, Development and Statistics Directorate of the Home Office. It will include an analysis of reconviction of curfewees both during and after the curfew period. Results will be published later this year.

  Offences committed by curfewees

  Number

  Burglary

  20

  Theft

  16

  Driving/Motoring offences

  12

  Assault

  9

  Drug offences

  5

  Deception

  3

  Wounding

  3

  Robbery

  2

  Breach of Probation Order

  1

  Threats to kill

  1

  False Imprisonment

  1

  Affray

  1

  Total

  74

  Miss Widdecombe
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 22 March 2000,Official report, column 561W, on the home detention curfew scheme, how many offenders charged with a further offence committed while on the scheme have been convicted of such an offence; if he will provide a breakdown by type of offence; and if he will make a statement. [116480]

  Mr. Boateng
  Information is not held centrally on the convictions of those who have committed offences while subject to home detention curfew.

  Miss Widdecombe
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 22 March 2000,Official Report, column 561W, on the home detention curfew scheme, for what reason the original offence committed by 1,001 offenders released on the scheme was not recorded; and if he will make a statement. [116481]

  Mr. Boateng
  The statistics on the original offences committed by prisoners released on home detention curfew are taken from the Prison Service computer database, known as the Inmate Information System, and are based on the data entered by each prison. Where offence data are not completed by the prison, the category "offence not recorded" is used at the centre. At a local level, the details of the offence in each case will be known to the establishment before a risk assessment and release on home detention curfew can take place. In assessing a12W
  prisoner's suitability for release on the scheme, the nature of the offence is an important factor to be taken into account.

  Efforts are made to ensure the completeness and accuracy of all data as far as practicable, but there are inevitable errors of omission and commission. Guidance is being issued to establishments stressing the importance of recording the data on original offences as quickly as possible in every case.

  Miss Widdecombe
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the maximum sentence that may be passed on an offender who is eligible for release on the home detention curfew scheme. [116475]

  Mr. Boateng
  Under the Criminal Justice Act 1991, as amended by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, no prisoner who has been sentenced to four years or more imprisonment is eligible for release under the home detention curfew scheme.

  Criminal Justice and Court Services Bill
  Miss Widdecombe
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department further to his answers of 22 March 2000,Official Report, column 557W, on drug testing procedures under Clause 48 of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Bill, (a) if a positive test would in itself be sufficient proof of an offence of unlawful possession of a controlled drug, (b) what specified Class A drugs will be tested for, (c) if he intends to extend the testing procedure to include Class B drugs and (d) how he intends the tests to be used to assist in appropriate sentencing, and if this includes the length of sentence to be passed; and if he will make a statement. [116472]

  Mr. Boateng
  The purpose of drug testing on charge is to identify and monitor drug misusers who may need treatment and to inform any subsequent bail decisions. It is not intended that a positive test will be used to bring a prosecution for unlawful possession. Initially, tests will be made to detect heroin and crack/cocaine which research evidence shows are strongly linked to crimes committed in order to feed a drug habit. The Criminal Justice and Court Services Bill includes provision to extend the range of drugs tested for, including any in Class B, if a similar linkage to commission of crime emerges.

  The court will have regard to a positive test on sentencing and can make a drug abstinence order or add an abstinence requirement to a community sentence in cases where the criteria is met.

  A positive test result will not be an aggravating factor for sentencing purposes.

  Miss Widdecombe
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the new procedure for appointing local probation boards contained in Schedule 1 to the Criminal Justice and Court Services Bill, indicating how it differs from the present procedure. [116476]

  Mr. Boateng
  The present procedure is based on the nomination directly to the committee of local magistrates, a member of the judiciary and local authority members. In future, members of probation boards, with the exception of the Lord Chancellor's nominee, will be appointed by the Secretary of State following a process of open, public advertisement.
  13W
  We will be looking to recruit members who, in addition to meeting competences, being developed in consultation with the Central Probation Council, will reflect a breadth of experience from the local community. We are working with the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments to ensure that these new arrangements meet the highest standards of openness and transparency.

  Chief officers will, for the first time, be a member of local boards.

  Prisoners (Activity)
  Miss Widdecombe
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for each of the last 10 years for which figures are available the average amount of time spent by prisoners on purposeful activity. [116474]

  Mr. Boateng
  The average amount of time spent per prisoner on purposeful activity in the last 10 years is listed in the table. Data for 1999–00 are for the year to February 2000 and are provisional.

  Year

  Purposeful hours

  1990–91

  22.3

  1991–92

  22.7

  1992–93

  23.7

  1993–94

  24.7

  1994–95

  26.2

  1995–96

  25.2

  1996–97

  23.8

  1997–98

  23.3

  1998–99

  22.8

  1999–2000

  23.0

ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE REGIONS

  Road Traffic Targets
  Mr. Moore
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list those local authorities that have set targets for the overall level of road traffic in their area as part of their draft local transport plans, giving the targets set in each case. [114810]

  Mr. Hill
  [holding answer 16 March 2000]: Local traffic authorities in England (outside London) submitted interim road traffic reduction reports as part of their provisional local transport plans in July 1999. Due to the provisional nature of the plans, the status and coverage of some targets are uncertain. However, the following authorities submitted plans containing traffic targets for at least part of their area or for some types of traffic.

  Authority

  Target

  Oxfordshire

  Halve forecast traffic growth to 2016

  Hampshire

  Reduce the rate of traffic growth by 50 per cent by 2020

  Milton Keynes

  Reduce journey to work car trips by 4 per cent. between 1997 and 2011 and car mode share reduction from 77 per cent. to 55 per cent, between 1997 and 2011

  14W

  Authority

  Target

  West Berkshire

  Newbury and Thatcham area—reduce growth to zero from 1999. Rural area—limit growth to 10 per cent, between 1999 and 2009. Eastern area—reduction in growth forecast of 1-5 per cent. on major corridors and absolute reductions of 1-5 per cent. in residential areas

  Reading

  Reduce car travel by 5 per cent, in town centre. Reduce traffic levels by 2-5 per cent. in residential areas. Reduce traffic on major corridors by 2-5 per cent. over forecast levels

  Isle of Wight

  Halve the rate of growth by 2020

  East Sussex

  Reduce amount of car journeys to education establishments by 20 per cent. by 2005 in Bexhill, Hastings, Eastbourne and other towns. Achieve zero growth on minor rural roads in the Ashdown Forest area

  Slough

  10 per cent, reduction in current traffic levels by 2005

  Surrey

  Limit growth to 7 per cent. between 1998–2016

  Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch

  Reduce rate of traffic growth by 50 per cent. by 2005 and reduce to zero growth by 2010. Reduce car trips to school by 50 per cent.

  Dorset

  Reduce rate of traffic growth to 50 per cent. of average growth forecast between 1998 and 2005

  Gloucestershire

  By 2011, average daily traffic volumes to increase by no more than 20 per cent. compared with 1995 levels

  Somerset

  Limit growth to 10 per cent. by 2011 in Taunton and 25 per cent. by 2011 in Bridgwater and to 13 per cent. by 2011 in Yeovil

  Bath and North East Somerset

  Bath centre—20 per cent. reduction in 1999 levels by 2005. Rest of Bath—10 per cent. reduction. Other towns stabilise traffic and no targets in rural areas

  Bristol

  Reduce growth in car traffic by 20 per cent. over the next five years. Thereafter a further 20 per cent. reduction over the next 10 to 15 years

  South Gloucestershire

  Zero growth in annual average traffic flows by 2005. Annual 2 per cent. reduction in proportion of people commuting by car

  Swindon

  Slow traffic growth by 35 per cent. (based on low growth assumptions)—29 per cent. increase 1996–2016 compared to do-nothing forecast of 44 per cent.

  Plymouth

  Maintain traffic at 1999 levels—0 per cent. traffic growth

  Torbay

  0.5 per cent. growth in traffic across area over all time periods by 2005

  West Midlands1

  Contain levels of morning peak car trips into the nine LTP centres to their 1995–96 levels up to 2006, and maintain the containment to 2011

  15W

  Authority

  Target

  Shropshire

  Reduce cars entering Shrewsbury by 5 per cent. by 2005. Outside city centre, limit growth to 1 per cent. or less per annum. Reduce per cent. of children given lifts to school by car by 10 per cent. by 2005. Limit traffic growth on inter-urban routes to 2 per cent, or less per annum until 2005 and 1 per cent. thereafter in the market towns and rural areas

  Stoke on Trent

  Constrain growth to 10 per cent. between 1999–2011

  Telford and Wrekin

  To limit traffic growth to 2 per cent. per annum or the rate of growth in population (whichever is lower) by 2005

  Warwickshire

  Reduce the rate of traffic growth in urban areas by 50 per cent. in peak periods

  Worcestershire

  To achieve 1991 traffic levels in Worcester City by 2011

  Merseyside2

  Keep traffic growth below 17 per cent.

  Cheshire

  Traffic to be restrained in Chester to a 2 per cent. increase on 1994 levels to 2011. In the rest of the County traffic to be restrained to a 16 per cent. increase on 1994 levels up to 2011

  Cumbria

  Cap growth at 2000 levels by 2005 in Carlisle City Centre. 24 per cent. reduction in existing peak hour traffic entering the Kendal by 2005–06

  Lancashire

  Traffic flows to and from town centres to be restricted to 1991 levels

  Blackburn

  Zero growth of peak hour traffic by 2006. Growth in off-peak limited to low NRTF levels from 2000

  Halton

  Restrain growth to 16 per cent. by 2011

  Durham

  Restrict traffic to 1999 levels to end of 2004 in Durham City. Reduce traffic growth to 0.33 per cent. per annum to 2004 in the rest of the County

  Northumberland

  Reduce AADT by 5 per cent. on base network at selected monitoring sites by 2005. No increase in traffic at selected sites by 2005

  Darlington

  Restrict growth to 4 per cent. between 1999 and 2006 into the Darlington Urban area. Restrict growth to 2 per cent. into Darlington town centre between 1999 and 2006. Restrict and/or reduce traffic growth on 4 key transport corridors by 2006

  Middlesborough

  Reduce AADT to zero growth in town centre by 2005 and reduce by 2 per cent. by 2010

  Hartlepool

  Limit traffic growth to 3.5 per cent. between 2000 and 2005

  Stockton-on-Tees

  5 per cent. reduction of AADT at specific sites. Peak hour traffic flow reduction by 5 per cent. and limit overall growth to 4.5 per cent.

  South Yorkshire3

  Contain car traffic at 1999 levels

  West Yorkshire4

  Constrain growth to 7 per cent. in Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield

  16W

  Authority

  Target

  North Yorkshire

  Maintain traffic in the urban area at 1994 levels in Harrogate, Knarsborough and Ripon. In the Yorkshire Dales, maintain traffic at 1994 levels

  York

  Maintain inbound morning peak traffic to 1992 levels. Provisional target of 7 per cent. reduction from 1999 to 2003

  Kingston-upon-Hull

  Reduce car flows by 1 per cent. per annum from present levels. Reduce proportion of car trips from 57 per cent. of total in 1991 to 50 per cent. in 2011

  North Lincolnshire

  Reduce the average peak hour growth rate of traffic from 2.5 per cent. to 2.2 per cent. by 2005 and to 1.1 per cent. by 2010

  Derbyshire

  Reduce traffic growth to 1 per cent. below the national average by 2011

  Leicester5

  Reduce growth to 2011 from 15 per cent. to 7 per cent.

  Nottingham

  Maintain growth at below 2.5 per cent. per annum by 2000

  Nottinghamshire

  Limit growth to 8 per cent. up to 2011

  Lincolnshire

  Reduce forecast peak hour car traffic in Greater Lincoln, Boston, Grantham and Skegness by 10 per cent. over the next five years. Reduce forecast peak hour car traffic in the large market towns of Gainsborough, Louth, Sleeford, Spalding and Stamford over the LTP period

  Northamptonshire

  Achieve zero growth above 1999 levels on radial routes in peak hours

  Bedfordshire

  Decrease travel to work by car from 71 per cent. in 1991 to 58 per cent. in 2011 in Bedford, market towns and rural areas

  Norfolk

  Private car traffic crossing the Norwich inner ring road and outer ring road to be no higher than 1995 levels in 2011. 10 per cent. fall in peak level of private car traffic along to A149 coastal road between 1997 and 2010

  Suffolk

  Achieve zero growth by 2006 in Ipswich, Bury St. Edmunds and Lowestoft

  Peterborough

  Maintain growth below NRTF low growth forecast till 2005

  1 A joint plan for the Metropolitan area consisting of the following traffic authorities: Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton

  2 A joint plan for the Metropolitan area consisting of the following traffic authorities: Liverpool, Knowsley, St. Helens, Sefton and Wirral

  3 A joint plan for the Metropolitan area consisting of the following traffic authorities: Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster

  4 A joint plan for the Metropolitan area consisting of the following traffic authorities: Leeds, Kirklees, Calderdale, Bradford and Wakefield

  5 A joint plan with Leicestershire

  Note:

  NRTF—Department of Transport National Road Traffic Forecasts 1997

  AADT—Annual Average Daily Traffic

  Park-and-Ride Schemes
  Mr. Edward Davey
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many park-and-ride schemes have been introduced by local authorities since May 1997; and if he will make a statement. [116074]

  Mr. Hill
  The Department does not collect such information.

  Affordable Housing (London)
  Mr. Edward Davey
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what proportion of houses built in London in each of the past four years has been classified as affordable; and what research his Department has undertaken to determine if this proportion meets local demand for such housing. [116084]

  Ms Beverley Hughes
  The information on affordable houses built is not held centrally. However, the London Research Centre is currently undertaking a research project to assess the extent of housing need in London.

  Regional Assemblies
  Mrs. Ellman
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the creation of directly elected regional assemblies in England. [116072]

  Ms Beverley Hughes
  We are committed to moving to directly elected regional government in England, where there is demand for it expressed in a referendum.

  Housing Development (Transport Links)
  Miss McIntosh
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to develop transport links in areas of new housing development in greenfield sites. [116236]

  Ms Beverley Hughes
  Planning Policy Guidance note 3, "Housing", (PPG3) (see paragraphs 47 and 48) provides that local planning authorities should seek to exploit opportunities to locate larger housing developments around major nodes along good quality public transport corridors (both existing and those with firm proposals for improvement in local transport plans). In addition, authorities should seek to ensure that all housing developments are accessible by a range of non-car modes. Draft PPG13, "Transport", also proposes that major development proposals should be supported by a transport assessment.

  Speed Limits
  Mr. Peter Bradley
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many villages with populations of under 3,000 have a speed limit of 30 mph. [116015]

  Mr. Hill
  This information is not held centrally.

  Radioactive Waste
  Mr. Cox
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what are the procedures that must be followed regarding the dumping of radioactive waste in the UK. [115916]
  18W
  Mr. Meacher
  The disposal of radioactive waste is closely regulated under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 by the Environment Agency in England and Wales, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in Scotland and the Environment Heritage Service in Northern Ireland. Any person wishing to dispose of radioactive waste must make an application to the relevant agency.

  Mr. Chaytor
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he plans to publish the green paper on radioactive waste management; and what will be its terms of reference. [115532]

  Mr. Meacher
  My Department aims to publish the consultation paper on the management of radioactive waste in late spring. The contents are still under consideration.

  Regional Development Agencies
  Mr. Quinn
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many objections he received when he consulted on the location of boundaries for the regional development agencies. [116331]

  Ms Beverley Hughes
  We received 198 responses to our consultation paper, "Regional Development Agencies—Issues for Discussion", which was published in 1997. Of these responses, there were two objections to the boundaries proposed for the RDAs.

  GM Crops
  Sir Richard Body
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions on what date the contract was signed for the growing of a GM crop at Friskney, Lincolnshire. [116448]

  Mr. Meacher
  My Department was notified by Monsanto of a proposed location of a field for a farm scale evaluation of GM beet near Friskney in Lincolnshire, on 16 March 2000. The contractual arrangements are a matter for Monsanto and the farmer involved.

  Mr. Keetch
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what GM crop trials there have been in Herefordshire; and if he will make a statement. [116343]

  Mr. Meacher
  The Government's farm scale evaluations programme, which I announced on 17 March, is designed to allow independent researchers to see what effect growing and managing GM crops might have on farmland wildlife, compared with non-GM crops. The programme this year will involve up to 80 GM field sites. To date, none of the proposed sites notified to my Department is in Herefordshire.

  Local Authorities (Leaders)
  Mr. Brady
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list(a) the name of the leaders, (b) the political party of the leader and (c) the annual allowance payable to the leader of each local authority in England. [116460]
  19W
  Ms Beverley Hughes
  This information is not collected by my Department.

  Euratom Directive
  Mr. Chaytor
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what he plans to implement the justification requirements of Euratom Directive 96/29. [115531]

  Mr. Meacher
  The Health and Safety Commission is in the lead for preparing proposals on behalf of Government for implementing the justification requirements of Euratom Directive 96-29. I await its revised proposals.

  Child Cyclists
  Mr. Andrew George
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what action he is taking to reduce brain injuries among child cyclists. [115739]

  Mr. Hill
  The road safety strategy, "Tomorrows Roads—Safer for Everyone", promotes the wearing of cycle helmets. They can provide significant protection against the severity of head injuries. This reinforces the advice contained in the "Highway Code", the "Highway Code for Young Road Users" and the Driving Standards Agency's "Road Code". We also promote their use in our "Cycle Smart" publicity material. Together with the Department of Health, we are supporting the Bicycle Helmet Initiative Trust project, the aim of which is to promote cycle helmet wearing among children and young people. We are monitoring the wearing rate in Great Britain (currently about 18 per cent.) and will continue to consider the option of compulsory wearing from time to time.

  Mr. Andrew George
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many child cyclists have been(a) injured and (b) killed on the roads in each of the past 10 years. [115773]

  Mr. Hill
  The information requested is shown in the following table for the most recent 10 years for which data are available.

  Child1 cyclist casualties in road accidents: Great Britain 1989–98

  Year

  Killed

  Injured

  1989

  73

  9,254

  1990

  59

  8,661

  1991

  50

  8,132

  1992

  48

  7,677

  1993

  37

  7,349

  1994

  42

  8,033

  1995

  48

  8,085

  1996

  54

  8,163

  1997

  33

  7,866

  1998

  32

  6,898

  1 Children aged 0–15

  Breakdown and Recovery Vehicles
  Mr. Key
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many breakdown and recovery vehicles exempt from the MOT 20W
  test (a) are currently operating on (i) motorways and (ii) other roads and (b) were involved in vehicle accidents in the last year for which figures are available. [116133]

  Mr. Hill
  Such vehicles are exempt from the MOT test if they are constructed such that they tow vehicles that they are recovering rather than carry them. Although it is not possible to say precisely how many of these there are, a good approximation is the number of vehicles whose body type is recorded as a breakdown truck. Further to these, there will also be a number of other vehicles in the recovery vehicles tax class that are exempt from the MOT test because they are less than one year old. The estimated numbers of those licensed and exempt from the MOT test at the end of 1998 are as follows:

  Breakdown trucks: 10,224

  Other recovery vehicles first registered in 1998: 110

  Total: 10,334

  These figures come from the record of licensed vehicles in Great Britain held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. No details are held about the roads upon which these vehicles operate.

  Road accident data are available by body type of the vehicles involved. In 1998 there were 104 recorded injury accidents involving breakdown trucks. This figure may be a slight under-estimate as in some accidents details of the vehicle's body type can not be obtained.

  Rent Rebates
  Mr. McNamara
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) what proposals he has to reimburse local authorities in full for current and future rent rebate expenditure; [115387]

  (2) for what reasons the housing revenue subsidy paid to local authorities is less than the rent rebate expenditure borne by local authorities; [115402]

  (3) for what reason local authorities' rent rebate expenditure is not reimbursed on the same basis as expenditure on rent allowances for private sector and association tenants; [115403]

  (4) what funding will be available to ensure that there is no further clawback of local authority rent income by central Government; [115428]

  (5) if the existing gap between rent rebate expenditure and housing subsidy will be funded in full without a corresponding fall in money available for council housing. [115427]

  Mr. Mullin
  There are two parts to housing subsidy: housing element and rent rebate element. Most authorities show a surplus on their housing element—that is their assumed rental income covers assumed costs. Where there is a surplus on housing element for an authority, we reduce the size of the rent rebate element by an equivalent amount.

  Other than in those cases where rent rebate subsidy limitation applies, local authorities are fully reimbursed for rent rebate expenditure. The effect of limitation is that

  21W
  if an authority increases its average rent above the limit rent level, it receives additional rental income only from those tenants not receiving rent rebate.

  This accounting arrangement reflects the different subsidy provisions which apply to different tenures. Local authority rents are generally lower than housing association or private sector rents, so it is not the case that council tenants are treated less favourably than other tenants. We intend to replace the current system with one that is easier to understand and which will avoid offsetting one expenditure stream against another and avoid the present confusion. The necessary legislation will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time permits.

  We are currently consulting on the detail of our proposals on how to structure and operate a new system for redistributing resources under resource accounting. We have also announced that the proposed major repairs allowance (MRA) will be introduced from April 2001 to meet the cost of keeping housing stock in good condition. We expect that there will be fewer surpluses when the MRA is introduced and that will itself ease concerns about the system.

  No decisions have yet been taken on the level of funding that will be available. This will form part of the discussions in the forthcoming spending review.

  Housing Revenue (Subsidy)
  Mr. McNamara
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what was the total amount of housing revenue account subsidy paid to local authorities in 1998–99. [115399]

  Mr. Mullin
  The total amount of housing revenue account subsidy paid to local authorities in 1998–99 was £3,371 million.

  Mr. McNamara
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is the estimated subsidy for the housing revenue account of local authorities for the years(a) 1999–2000 and (b) 2000–01. [115401]

  Mr. Mullin
  Our forecasts of housing revenue account subsidy are as follows:

  £ million

  1Housing revenue account subsidy

  1999–2000

  3,190

  2000–01

  3,146

  1 Estimated

  Disabled Drivers
  Mr. Oaten
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when his Department will implement regulations covering changes to disabled drivers' badges and clocks. [116297]

  Mr. Hill
  I refer the hon. Member to my reply of 10 March 2000,Official Report, columns 834-35W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mr. McWalter).
  22W
  I also announced on 18 November 1999 that the Orange Badge scheme is to be reviewed this year, and we will be looking at the eligibility criteria as well as the administration and enforcement of the scheme.

  Regional Planning Guidance
  Mr. Pond
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he intends to publish his response to the recommendations of the panels which conducted the public examinations of the draft regional planning guidance notes for East Anglia and the South-East; and if he will make a statement. [116564]

  Mr. Raynsford
  My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister has today published for consultation Proposed Changes to the Draft Regional Planning Guidance (RPG) for East Anglia and to the Draft RPG for the South-East.

  On 7 March my right hon. Friend set out a new approach to planning for housing provision and made a preliminary announcement about housing in the South-East. The Proposed Changes to the draft RPG for East Anglia reflect the principles and priorities set out in that statement. They aim to support economic growth and regeneration, while protecting and enhancing the region's environment. They endorse the housing target proposed by SCEALA (the Standing Conference of East Anglia Local Authorities) of around some 9,600 additional dwellings a year as the starting point for the plan, monitor and manage approach. The Panel recommended that at least 40 per cent. of these new dwellings should be on previously-developed land. We are proposing a 50 per cent. target initially. This takes account of the likely availability of such land in a largely rural region.

  We endorse SCEALA's view that development should be concentrated in the cities and larger towns. This is consistent with our policies for urban renaissance and the better use of land.

  Cambridge now has world status as a centre for high-tech, knowledge-based industry. The emphasis must be on enabling the development of these industries while safeguarding the City's special character. However, we share the Panel's concern at the non-sustainable nature of much recent development around Cambridge, associated with increased car dependence and a lack of affordable housing. Building on the Panel's recommendations, we are proposing a sequential approach to development, looking first at the capacity of Cambridge, then possible urban extensions, then a new settlement—always considering brownfield land first.

  We have accepted the Panel's recommendation for a review of the Cambridge Green Belt as an essential part of the process of finding sustainable locations for development. It should be carried out by the local authorities, with any changes taken forward through the review of development plans.

  The integration of development and transport is at the core of our approach to regional planning. Our programme of multi-modal transport studies reflects the strategic priorities identified by SCEALA. The Minister responsible for roads announced on 3 February that the A11 Roudham Heath to Attleborough scheme was to be brought forward to start in 2000–01. In further recognition of the strategic priorities we are adding three schemes to

  23W
  the targeted programme of improvements at an estimated cost of £53 million: All Fiveways to Thetford and Attleborough Bypass Improvements, already in preparation, and A47 Thorney Bypass. The All schemes will complete a high-quality route to Norwich, improving access to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. Thorney Bypass will bring safety and environmental benefits for the local community, and will remove a bottleneck on a strategic east-west route.

  On 7 March, my right hon. Friend announced the overall housing numbers for the South-East region and the target for the use of recycled land. The Proposed Changes, published today, set out detailed proposals including a clear spatial strategy for the region.

  The Proposed Changes recognise the national priority for regenerating the Thames Gateway area, and the need within the region to promote the Priority Areas of Economic Regeneration and to facilitate the continuing economic success of the area to the west of London, while maintaining environmental quality, and of London as a World City. The policies are designed to help achieve an urban renaissance and the improved economic and social viability of the rural areas, while protecting and enhancing the countryside.

  The Proposed Changes set out priorities for transport investment and study, and include revised parking standards. However, they make clear that more work needs to be done to develop the Regional Transport Strategy to facilitate the economic performance of the region, achieve more sustainable patterns of movement and to combat congestion. The documents include an illustrative distribution of the housing numbers to county areas, a point on which we have specifically sought the views of SERPLAN (the South-East Regional Planning Conference). We consider that there is scope for potential growth areas at Milton Keynes, Ashford and, in the longer term, at Stansted. The potential of these areas will now be the subject of studies with the Regional Planning Bodies, the local authorities concerned and other interested parties.

  The consultation period on both sets of Proposed Changes will be for 12 weeks, ending on 19 June. Copies of the relevant documents have been placed in the House Library and made available to the two region's MPs.

  Green Glass Waste
  Mr. Robertson
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what recent assessment he has made of the potential for re-using green glass waste; what recent discussions he has had with the importers of green glass bottles on this subject; and if he will make a statement. [116298]

  Mr. Mullin
  We are in close touch with British Glass and other materials organisations and we are planning a seminar on this issue later this year.

  Wembley Stadium
  Mr. Bob Russell
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what progress has been made by the Wembley Task Force towards improving the road and rail links to Wembley Stadium. [114856]
  24W
  Mr. Hill
  The Wembley Task Force are in close consultation with London Underground Ltd. A scheme to improve the capacity and quality of Wembley Park station is well advanced and will shortly be put to the LUL Board for approval. Parallel discussions are in hand with rail operators on potential enhancements to Wembley Stadium and Wembley Central station.

  An appraisal of local road improvements necessary to serve the Stadium and the Wembley Estate has been undertaken. Detailed proposals are now being developed in discussion with Wembley National Stadium Ltd. and the Highway Authorities.

  Local Transport Plans
  Mr. Pickthall
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he intends to publish guidance for local authorities on the preparation of full local transport plans. [116684]

  Mr. Hill
  I am today issuing "Guidance on Full Local Transport Plans", which contains advice for local authorities on the preparations of their local transport plans for 2001–02 to 2005–06.

  Local transport plans are at the heart of our new deal for integrated transport, central to giving people improved travel choices, safer roads and better transport services. We are giving authorities more resources and more freedom to produce the best possible plans. We will be spending more than £750 million in the coming financial year, and more than £1 billion the following year. This reflects our commitment to supporting local solutions and initiatives.

  This summer the Government will publish their 10-year transport plan, a framework for investment over the next decade. Local authorities will play an important role in delivering that plan, and in the guidance issued today we are asking them for additional investment proposals for an integrated transport strategy over the next 10-years.

  Construction Industry
  Mr. John Cryer
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) how many workers in the construction industry are employed on a PAYE basis; [115051]

  (2) how many workers in the construction industry are self-employed on the basis of holding a C154 registration card. [115052]

  Dawn Primarolo
  I have been asked to reply.

  Whether an individual is employed or self-employed for tax and national insurance purposes depends upon the terms of the contract under which they are engaged.

  The Inland Revenue does not have information relating to the numbers of workers in the construction industry who are engaged on an employed or self-employed basis.

  A CIS4 registration card is no proof of self-employment and therefore there should be no workers in the construction industry who are treated as self-employed purely on that basis. The Inland Revenue, together with the former Contributions Agency published

  25W
  leaflet IR148/CA69 specifically to assist contractors in the industry on tackling the question of the status of their workers.

DEFENCE

  Lord Levy
  Mr. Baker
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on which dates Lord Levy has had meetings with(a) Ministers and (b) senior officials in his Department since 1 May 1997, giving in each case the purpose of the meetings; and if he will make a statement. [113503]

  Mr. Hoon
  [holding answer 7 March 2000]: Lord Levy had an office call with the Secretary of State for Defence on Thursday 28 October 1999.

  The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) has met Lord Levy on four occasions. On 25 March 1999 Lord Levy made an office call on CDS in the Ministry of Defence for general discussion on the Middle East. During the period 3-7 September 1999, Lord Levy assisted CDS during his representational visit to Israel, and on 20 October 1999 he came to the Ministry of Defence to discuss the Middle East. On 22 February this year, CDS called on Lord Levy at the House of Lords to discuss the Middle East prior to Lord Levy's visits there, and CDS' visit to Bahrain.

  The Chief of Defence Intelligence had a short informal meeting with Lord Levy on 25 March 1999. At his request, Lord Levy was briefed on the situation in Syria prior to a visit to the area.

  Korean War (50th Anniversary)
  Mr. Duncan Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what arrangements he is making to commemorate the 50 anniversary of the Korean War in the United Kingdom. [116459]

  Dr. Moonie
  I refer the hon. Member to the answer my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister gave to the hon. Member for North Dorset (Mr. Walter) on 21 March 2000,Official Report, column 480W. A comprehensive programme of commemorative events is planned over the next three years in the Republic of Korea, involving that country and those whose forces constituted the United Nations Command. As the United Kingdom's participation in the war as a contributor to the United Nations Command in defence of the Republic of Korea, it is appropriate that our commemoration should be as part of that programme, and we will be represented at a number of events at the appropriate level. The Ministry of Defence has no plans for additional commemoration of the anniversary.

  Seatbelts
  Mr. Key
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when his Department issued instructions that Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force cadets must not travel in four-tonne trucks or other military vehicles without seatbelts; and what assessment he has made of the impact of this ruling on(a) cadet training and (b) cadet financing. [116346]
  26W
  Mr. Spellar
  Instructions on the carriage of cadets in military vehicles were first issued on 20 March 1998, in response to the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 1996 (SI 1996/163). These instructions stated that the use of Troop Carrying Vehicles (TCVs) which were not fitted with passenger restraint was not appropriate for the routine movement of cadets. The use of TCVs for the carriage of cadets was therefore restricted to training areas and their immediate vicinity.

  The use of military vehicles during training is permitted, but only under a rigorous control regime. This requires Commanding Officers to consider whether it enhances training, whether it might be more appropriate to use civilian vehicles, the nature of the training and the terrain to be covered. This is aimed at ensuring that the proposed training is reasonable and that any risks are controllable.

  Following the Strategic Defence Review, additional funding of £500,000 per year was allocated to Headquarters Land Command for additional provision for routine travel for Army Cadet Force units and Army sections of the Combined Cadet Force, and additional facilities at detachment level. Of this, £200,000 per year has been allocated to TAVRAs for cadet travel. This is in addition to the usual process through which TAVRAs receive funding, including provision for a cadet travel vote. This additional funding has meant that the impact of the ruling with respect to the requirement for seatbelts in TCVs on Army Cadet Force training and financing has been minimal.

  Naval Cadet Forces seldom used four-tonne trucks for passenger carrying purposes, and therefore the ruling with respect to the requirement for seatbelts in these vehicles has had no impact either on cadet training or financing. Naval Cadet Forces use either loan vehicles from motor transport pools or hire vehicles, all of which are fitted with seat belts.

  Air Cadets do not travel in four-tonne trucks at any time. They may occasionally travel in Land Rovers, which are sometimes used at gliding schools. The ruling has had no impact on their training or financing.

  Correspondence
  Mr. Cummings
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he will reply to the letter of 5 July 1999 and the fax of 24 August 1999 from the hon. Member for Easington concerning Mr. A. Jones of Seaham. [114942]

  Dr. Moonie
  I assume my hon. Friend is referring to correspondence concerning Mr. A. Lanes of Seaham. This has been transferred to the Department of Social Security for reply.

  Global Positioning System
  Mr. Hancock
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost of upgrading his Department's stock of Paveway II laser guided bombs to have a Global Positioning System/Inertial Measurement Unit capability; what safeguards would be taken to prevent the jamming of such a system; and if he will make a statement. [115750]
  27W
  Dr. Moonie
  We are currently considering lessons learned from Kosovo, including the need to bomb with precision in all weather conditions. However, no decisions have yet been made. Upgrading the Ministry of Defence's stock of Paveway II laser guided bombs to have a Global Positioning System/Inertial Measurement Unit capability is one of the options which are being considered. The disclosure of the estimate of the cost of any such upgrade could disadvantage the MOD in commercial negotiations and I am therefore withholding this information under Exemption 7 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. If a decision were made to upgrade the weapons, we would consider what safeguards might be put in place to prevent jamming of the system.

  Iraq
  Mr. Quentin Davies
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions, in each of the last six months, RAF aircraft patrolling the(a) northern and (b) southern no-fly zones in Iraq have been fired on; on how many occasions coalition forces have retaliated; and what targets have been destroyed as a result. [115913]

  Mr. Hoon
  During the six months from October 1999 coalition aircraft have been fired at by surface-to-air missiles or anti-aircraft artillery on over 200 occasions in both the northern and southern no-fly zones. Coalition forces responded in self-defence to these and other threats on some 50 days against almost 90 targets related to the Iraqi air defence network.

  Hong Kong
  Mr. Cox
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what land is still owned by his Department in Hong Kong; and if he will make a statement. [116213]

  Dr. Moonie
  The Ministry of Defence retains ownership of the Cassino Lines Gurkha Cemetery, San Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong, and the Cape Collinson Military Cemetery, Chai Wah, Hong Kong.

  Military Land
  Mr. Cox
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the estimated acreage of military land in the UK surplus to requirements on 1 March. [116212]

  Dr. Moonie
  Land which is declared surplus to defence requirements is disposed of. The Strategic Defence Review set a target of £700 million for estate disposals over the four years to 2001–02 and we are well on track to achieve that figure. Figures for the hectarage of land in disposal are not held centrally but I will write to my hon. Friend and place a copy of my reply in the Library of the House.

  Property Procurement
  Mr. Duncan Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much has been spent by his Department in each of the last three years in procuring new buildings and land. [116457]

  Dr. Moonie
  I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

  Naval Vessels
  Mr. Duncan Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the RFAs Olwen and Olna last put to sea. [116453]

  Mr. Spellar
  RFAs Olwen and Olna were last at sea in July 1999 and November 1999 respectively.

  Working Time Directive (TA)
  Mr. Key
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what advice he has issued to the Territorial Army on compliance with the Working Time Directive. [116345]

  Mr. Spellar
  No specific guidance has been issued to the Territorial Army, although general guidance has been given to the armed forces, much of which is relevant to the Territorial Army. It is our intention to issue further guidance to the reserve forces, in light of the amendments to the Working Time Regulations contained in SI 3372/99, within the next two months.

  Credit Facilities
  Mr. Key
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with which credit organisations his officials are discussing access to credit by members of HM Forces and their families; and if he will make a statement. [116131]

  Mr. Spellar
  Service families are occasionally refused credit because credit scoring systems used by some credit lenders do not take account of the mobility expected of Service families. This is a particular problem for Service personnel who have not lived at the same address for three years or who are registered as Service voters. My Service Families Task Force is in discussions on this issue with the British Bankers Association and the Finance Leasing Association. These organisations represent the majority of credit lenders in this country.

  Accommodation (Scotland)
  Mr. Alasdair Morgan
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what barrack accommodation is currently surplus to requirements in Scotland and awaiting disposal; and if he will estimate the potential single accommodation capacity of these barracks. [116224]

  Dr. Moonie
  I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

  Mr. Alasdair Morgan
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many places(a) are currently available and (b) will be available by 2001, in training camps in Scotland for (i) Kirkcudbright, (ii) Barry Budden and (iii) Cultybraggan. [116225]

  Mr. Spellar
  The number of bed spaces(a) currently available and (b) available in 2001, in training camps in Scotland at (i) Kirkcudbright, (ii) Barry Budden and (iii) Cultybraggan are as follows:

  Training camp

  2000

  2001

  Kirkcudbright

  0

  0

  Barry Budden

  507

  507

  Cultybraggan

  600

  600

  29W
  A training camp is planned for Kirkcudbright which will offer accommodation for up to 480 soldiers in due course.

  Mr. Alasdair Morgan
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many single accommodation places exist for each of the services in Scotland for(a) officers and (b) other ranks by location; and if he will estimate the total number of service personnel that could be accommodated onshore in Scotland if all available accommodation was utilised. [116226]

  Dr. Moonie
  The information requested is not held centrally. I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House when this information has been collated.

  Zimbabwe
  Mr. Salmond
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many(a) Royal Navy, (b) Royal Marine, (c) Army and (d) RAF personnel there are in Zimbabwe; what roles they are fulfilling; and how many Zimbabweans are receiving military training in the UK. [116262]

  Mr. Spellar
  Nine British Army and two RAF UK military personnel currently serve in Zimbabwe as part of the British Military Advisory and Training Team (BMATT) Southern Africa. The BMATT's main role is to provide regional peacekeeping training in countries throughout the Southern Africa region.

  In addition, two Army personnel (the UK Defence Adviser and his assistant) provide advice to the British High Commissioner in Harare on defence issues.

  A total of four Zimbabwean officers are currently receiving training in the UK.

  RAF Base Budgets
  Mr. Salmond
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the station operating budget for each RAF base in the UK in the last year for which figures are available. [116223]

  Mr. Spellar
  I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

  Indonesia
  Ann Clwyd
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if UK military personnel provided advice to the Indonesian Armed Forces in respect of their 9 May 1996 assault on the village of Geselama to rescue foreign and Indonesian hostages held by West Papuan rebels; and what UK military personnel were(a) present at and (b) took part in the assault. [116106]

  Mr. Battle
  I have been asked to reply.

  I refer to the reply given by the then Minister of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashfield (Mr. Hoon) on 23 July 1999, Official Report, column 727W. We worked closely with the Indonesian authorities to help ensure the safe release of the hostages. But Her Majesty's Government does not comment on the operational aspects of kidnap cases.

SOCIAL SECURITY

  Child Benefit
  Mr. Webb
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will set out the criteria which determine which recipients of child benefit receive letters inviting them to move to four-weekly payment in arrears. [115852]

  Angela Eagle
  [holding answer 22 March 2000]: The administration of child benefit is a matter for Peter Mathison, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.

  Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Steve Webb, dated 24 March 2000:
  The Secretary of State has asked me to respond to your recent Parliamentary Question asking if he will set out the criteria which determine which recipients of child benefit receive letters inviting them to move to four-weekly payment in arrears.
  It may help if I explain that the normal frequency for paying Child Benefit is every four weeks. The only exceptions to this are lone parents, people who received weekly payments prior to 14 March 1982 and customers who are in receipt of Income Support, Income Based Jobseekers Allowance, Family Credit or Disability Working Allowance. However, customers in receipt of Working Families Tax Credit or Disabled Person's Tax Credit which replaced Family Credit and Disability Working Allowance on 5 October 1999 do not qualify for weekly payments.
  In October 1999, an exercise was taken to identify Child Benefit customers who were receiving their benefit on a weekly basis where it appeared that they should, in fact, have been paid four weekly. Customers selected were issued with a letter which explained their Child Benefit would, when their current order book expired, be paid on a four weekly order book basis unless the customer contended that this would cause hardship.
  This exercise has been completed and there are no plans to issue any further letters to these customers.
  I hope this is helpful.

  SERPS
  Mr. Robertson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what evidence he will require before compensation is paid as proof that a person has lost financially as a result of receiving inaccurate information from a Government Department regarding changes to inherited SERPS; and if he will make a statement. [116342]

  Mr. Rooker
  We shall put before the House the full details of the Inherited SERPS Scheme, including what information we will require from those wishing to claim, and the procedures that will be followed to scrutinise those claims, once we have developed them. The NAO and the Ombudsman will be fully involved in developing these procedures.

  Mr. Field
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what will be the cost to public funds of compensation to contributors for the changes to surviving spouses' entitlement to SERPS. [116378]

  Mr. Rooker
  The cost to public funds will depend on the number of successful claims. The minimum cost will be £2.5 billion.

  Pensioner Households
  Mr. Webb
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will set out the basis for his calculation that pensioner households are on average £400 per year better off than when the Government came into office. [116470]

  Mr. Rooker
  The £400 figure is a rounded illustrative average across all pensioner households and covers winter fuel payments, free television licences for the over-75s, our minimum income guarantee measures and various tax changes and includes measures announced in the Budget.

  Expenditure as a percentage of GDP1

  1996–97

  1997–98

  1998–99

  1999–2000

  2000–01

  2001–02

  Retirement Pensions2

  4.18

  4.12

  4.15

  4.19

  4.08

  4.10

  Winter Fuel Payments

  0.00

  0.02

  0.02

  0.08

  0.15

  0.13

  Means-tested benefits for pensioners3

  1.13

  1.07

  1.00

  1.00

  1.00

  1.03

  Other benefits paid to pensioners4

  0.02

  0.02

  0.02

  0.02

  0.02

  0.02

  Concessionary TV Licences

  0.00

  0.00

  0.00

  0.00

  0.04

  0.04

  Total

  5.33

  5.23

  5.19

  5.29

  5.28

  5.30

  1 Expenditure figures are consistent with estimates of Social Security AME expenditure published in the March 2000 Financial Statement and Budget Report (FSBR). GDP figures for 1996–97 and 1998–99 were published by HM Treasury at the same time. Forecast figures for GDP for 1999–2000 to 2001–02 are from Table B6 of the FSBR.

  2 Includes Retirement Pension basic and earnings-related components.

  3 Includes Income Support, Social Fund payments, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit paid to people aged 60 and over.

  4 Includes non-contributory Retirement Pension and Christmas Bonus (contributory and non-contributory).

  Benefits Agency (Internal Security)
  Mr. Field
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when the report by the Probity and Transformation Section on Benefits Agency internal security will be published; and if he will place a copy in the Library. [116379]

  Mr. Rooker
  No. The report on the internal security of the Benefits Agency will be produced at the end of April. It is an internal document and we have no plans to publish it. This is in line with Part II paragraph 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

  Personal Pensions
  Mrs. Ewing
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if the benefits from an occupational pension scheme which are transferred to a personal pension scheme will vest in the pension holder's trustee in sequestration in the event that the pension holder is sequestrated;[116228]

  (2) when he plans to bring into force the provisions of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 whereby personal pensions, in the event of bankruptcy of the holder, will vest in the trustee; [116227]

  (3) what is his estimate of the numbers of persons who by virtue of becoming sequestrated or being sequestrated prior to the coming into force of section 11 of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 will lose to the trustee in sequestration the benefit of their personal pension, assuming that section 11 is not brought into force until April 2001. [116229]

  Mr. Rooker
  Where a person becomes bankrupt, his assets, with some exceptions, usually vest in the trustee in bankruptcy (in Scotland, the permanent trustee in bankruptcy). In relation to personal pensions, current bankruptcy law is not wholly clear. Nevertheless, some

  Pensioners (Benefits)
  Mr. Webb
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the value of expenditure on(a) retirement pensions, (b) winter fuel payments, (c) means-tested benefits for pensioners, (d) all other benefits for pensioners and (e) free TV licences for 1996–97 and each succeeding year to the end of the public expenditure planning period, as a share of GDP. [116471]

  Mr. Rooker
  The information is in the table.

  personal pensions have been taken by the trustee in bankruptcy. These can include personal pensions that contain transfers from occupational pensions.

  The Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 contains a measure to protect all tax-approved pensions on bankruptcy. Regulations are needed to give full effect to the measure and in order to allow for the preparation of the regulations, April 2001 has been chosen as the date for bringing the new measure into effect.

  In Scotland it is estimated that the number of people who lose their personal pension on bankruptcy is around 375 a year. There is no reliable information for England and Wales.

  Rent Rebates
  Mr. McNamara
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the total expenditure by local authorities in England and Wales on rent rebates for council tenants in 1998–99. [115398]

  Angela Eagle
  The total expenditure on rent rebates for council tenants (i.e. properties within the Housing Revenue Account (HRA)) in 1998–99 was as follows:

  £ million

  England

  4,318

  Wales

  265

  Source:

  Figures are taken from the HRA subsidy forms submitted by local authorities to the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, and the National Assembly for Wales.

  Mr. McNamara
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the estimated expenditure by local authorities in England and Wales on rent rebates for council tenants for the years(a) 1999–2000 and (b) 2000–01. [115400]
  33W
  Angela Eagle
  The information is in the table.

  Forecast expenditure on rent rebates for council tenants (i.e. properties in the housing revenue account (HRA)) in 1999–2000 and 2000–01

  £ million

  1999–2000

  2000–01

  England

  4,319

  4,367

  Wales

  270

  282

  Source:

  Figures are DSS country-based forecasts of expenditure, which underlie the Budget 2000

  Child Support
  Mr. Fitzpatrick
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to improve access to child support for lone parents who claim income support or income-based jobseeker's allowance. [116667]

  Angela Eagle
  Closer working between the Child Support Agency and the Benefits Agency has already provided a more straightforward, responsive and easily understood child support service. Currently, when Benefits Agency staff interview lone parents to help with their claim for income support and income based jobseeker's allowance, they also help them complete a child support application. If the parent with care is unwilling to apply for child support, a statement is taken at the interview setting out her reasons. The statement is then passed to the Child Support Agency for a decision on whether the reasons for not applying for child support constitute "good cause".

  As a result of these changes, many more parents with care claiming income support and income-based jobseeker's allowance, now apply for child support. 87 per cent. now complete a child support application and provide details of the non-resident parent.

  From 1 April this year, following successful trials around the country, the current arrangements will be extended so that the Benefits Agency will take on responsibility for making decisions about good cause. This will further streamline the service offered to lone parents claiming benefit.

  Winter Fuel Payment
  Miss Geraldine Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many pensioner households in Morecambe and Lunesdale have benefited from the winter fuel payment. [115747]

  Angela Eagle
  From the data we keep it is not possible to state how many separate households have received a winter fuel payment. However, in Morecambe and Lunesdale in the winter of 1999–2000, 9,333 pensioners received a £100 payment and 9,595 pensioners received a £50 payment.

  State Second Pension
  Mrs. Lait
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he expects the low-earning self-employed to be brought into the state second pension. [115910]
  34W
  Mr. Rooker
  Self-employed earners will not be included in the state second pension scheme from the outset. The issue of whether they should eventually be brought into the scheme was part of the Pension Green Paper consultation exercise we carried out. We are considering the outcome of this.

  Industrial Injury Benefit
  Mr. Cox
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claims were made for industrial injury benefit during 1999. [115918]

  Mr. Bayley
  Data on the claims made to industrial injuries disablement benefit in the quarter ending December 1999 are not yet available. 54,600 claims were made for industrial injuries disablement benefit between January and September 1999. 70,300 claims were made in the 12 months ending September 1999.

  Notes:

  1. These figures are based on a 10 per cent. sample of industrial injuries disablement benefit claims.

  2. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.

  Source:

  Analytical Services Division.

  Incapacity Benefit
  Mr. Cotter
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the average length of time between date of initial application and date of appeal for incapacity benefit applications in North Somerset in each of the last three years. [116005]

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

  Stakeholder Pensions
  Mrs. Lait
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what advice he has received from his advisers on the increase in the number of pensions taken out and the money likely to be put into pensions if stakeholder pensions were fully concurrent. [115908]

  Mr. Rooker
  If all members of defined benefit occupational pension schemes were permitted to contribute up to £3,600 to a stakeholder pension, regardless of existing limits, it is estimated that there would be an increase of around one million people taking out stakeholder pensions. The additional money put into pensions would be about £1.3 billion, of which about £400 million would come from tax relief.

  Key Client Groups
  Mr. Webb
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his oral statement of 15 March 2000,Official Report, columns 307-21, if he will list his Department's key client groups other than children, people of working age and pensioners. [115851]

  Angela Eagle
  Our aim is to promote work for those who can and provide support and opportunity for all. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said in his statement, we are focusing the Department on its key client groups: children, people of working age and
  35W
  pensioners. We recognise that within these key groups people will have different needs. Our approach will help us to focus services to meet these needs.

  Australia (Pensions)
  Mrs. Lait
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what recent discussions he(a) has had and (b) plans to have with the Australian Government about frozen state pensions of British people living in Australia; and if he will make a statement. [115101]

  Mr. Rooker
  The Australian Government's proposal for a limited unfreezing of pensions for some UK pensioners living in Australia were discussed at a meeting with the then Minister of State in July 1999. This proposal was rejected.

  Formal notification of Australia's intention to terminate its social security agreement with the UK was received on 1 March. The agreement will end 12 months from this date. This action will have no effect on the great majority of UK pensioners living in Australia, nor will it affect those in receipt of an Australian age pension at the time the termination becomes affective.

  It is unfortunate that the Australian Government has decided to end this long-standing agreement. We have no plans to unfreeze pensions in Australia or elsewhere.

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

  Correspondence
  Mr. Jenkin
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for North Essex of 6 November 1999 concerning purchasing policies of local authorities. [116138]

  Mr. Nick Brown
  I replied to the hon. Member on 23 March 2000.

  National Hunt Horses
  Mr. Baker
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the practice of firing National Hunt horses' tendons. [115804]

  Mr. Morley
  This practice has been condemned by the Council of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons as being therapeutically ineffective and unjustifiable.

  Food Supplements
  Mr. Fearn
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the timetable for the proposed Directive on Food Supplements; whether he has received a copy of the Draft Directive; what policy objectives he intends to pursue in connection with that Directive; and what steps is he taking to promote those objectives in discussions with other member states. [115798]

  Ms Quin
  In its White Paper on Food Safety published on 18 January, the Commission stated that it will adopt the proposal for a directive on food supplements in March 2000, with a view to it being adopted by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament by March 20001. The draft directive has not yet been published.
  36W
  The Government believe that the level of vitamins and minerals in supplements sold under food law should be limited only where this is necessary for safety reasons, and we are taking every opportunity to promote this approach during discussions in Brussels and other international forums.

  Mr. Fearn
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to review food labelling regulations to ensure that consumers of food supplements and other health food products are given accurate, relevant information about these products, their safety, use and effectiveness in maintaining good health. [115795]

  Ms Quin
  The Government are committed to giving consumers clear, easily understood information so they can make informed choices about the food they buy. We have been pressing the European Commission for changes in existing food labelling rules, which are harmonised at Community level, to require mandatory nutrition labelling of all foods and for the development of harmonised rules on health and nutrition claims. In addition, we are supporting the work of the Joint Health Claims Initiative, an alliance of consumer, industry and enforcement groups, in the development of a Code of Practice on Health Claims.

  In January, my noble Friend Baroness Hayman launched the "Better Food Labelling" initiative to identify whether current labelling rules and regulations meet the needs of consumers. The views received will be passed to the new Food Standards Agency to help judge whether the current regime is in need of reform, and for use in formulating its advice to Government on the UK's food labelling policy.

  Mr. Fearn
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his policy in relation to the availability on general retail sale of safe vitamin and mineral supplements. [115797]

  Ms Quin
  The Government believe that in the interests of consumer choice supplements sold under food law should, like other foods, be freely available.

  Mr. Fearn
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he expects to receive the report of the Expert Advisory Group on Vitamins and Minerals; and if he will arrange for the provisional findings of the Group to be made available for comment to consumer, retailer, practitioner and manufacturer representative groups prior to its publication. [115794]

  Ms Quin
  The Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals is expected to submit its report to the Food Advisory Committee in spring 2001. Whether the provisional findings are the subject of consultation with interested parties prior to this is a decision for the group itself. However, the group is committed to publishing the scientific reviews of the nutrients that it is considering so that interested parties have an opportunity to comment. It is also aided in its work by observers from consumer, food and health food industries and alternative medicine who are free to participate in the discussion of the scientific reviews.

  Meat and Bone Meal
  Mr. Breed
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the cost of storing meat
  37W
  and bone meal produced under the over-30-months scheme prior to incineration in each of the storage locations. [115110]

  Ms Quin
  The total cost of storing meat and bone meal produced under the over-30-months scheme is currently around £9 million per year. Specific rates are negotiated individually with contractors and are commercial confidential.

  Quarantine Kennels
  Mr. Baker
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when his Department intends to enact the provisions of the Animal Health (Amendment) Act 1998, in respect of minimum animal welfare standards in quarantine kennels; and if he will make a statement. [115506]

  Ms Quin
  [holding answer 22 March 2000]: Statutory welfare standards for dogs and cats in quarantine premises will be introduced in the same statutory instrument that will implement the full pet travel scheme. It is intended that this will be in place by the end of March 2001.

  Regional Service Centres
  Mr. Gill
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to close regional service centres; and if he will make a statement. [116264]

  Ms Quin
  ] [holding answer 23 March 2000]: No decisions have yet been taken on the future of the Ministry's regional service centres (RSCs) following the recent review of CAP scheme administration, which was commissioned to help us identify the best way to improve the service we offer to farmers and traders eligible to claim CAP payments, taking full advantage of the benefits offered by modern technology.

  We are now considering, in the context of the spending review 2000, how best to restructure MAFF's RSCs and the Intervention Board Executive Agency. Any major restructuring will only be possible if funding can be made available.

  My right hon. Friend the Minister has made it clear that he will not implement the recommendations of the review unless he is satisfied that we will be able to deliver real improvements in the service which MAFF and the Intervention Board currently provide to farmers and traders, as well as reductions in the cost to the taxpayer of administration of CAP payments.

  We are also taking forward plans to align MAFF's other regional activities, particularly on rural development, with the Government Offices for the Regions. This will ensure that we are able to work effectively with other regional partners including the regional development agencies.

  GM Crops
  Miss McIntosh
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy to ban the commercial release of GM crops until tests demonstrate that they are safe for(a) people and (b) the environment. [115032]

  Mr. Meacher
  I have been asked to reply.
  38W
  It is the Government's policy to ban the commercial release of GM crops until it can be demonstrated that they are safe for people and the environment. The current European and UK legislation prohibits the commercial release of any genetically modified organism, including GM crops, until the applicant can demonstrate to the satisfaction of European member states that they will not cause harm to human health or the environment and a marketing consent has been issued under the terms of the Directive 90/220.

PRIME MINISTER

  Synchrotron
  Mr. Brady
  To ask the Prime Minister what representations were made to him by(a) Ministers and (b) officials in the Department of Trade and Industry regarding the Diamond Synchrotron Project. [115756]

  The Prime Minister
  [holding answer 21 March 2000]: Since my response to a question in the House from the hon. Member for Wantage (Mr. Jackson) on 8 December 1999, Official Report, column 826. I have been kept fully informed by Ministers and officials in the Department of Trade and Industry on important issues relating to the New Synchrotron project.

  Telecommunications Industry
  Dr. Cable
  To ask the Prime Minister what representations he received from, or on behalf of, the telecommunications industries between 20 January and 2 March in connection with the Utilities Bill; and if he will list the telecommunications companies involved. [115771]

  The Prime Minister
  [holding answer 22 March 2000]: None.

  Dr. Cable
  To ask the Prime Minister if he will list(a) the meetings and contacts he had with the telecommunications industry between 20 January and 2 March and (b) the telecommunications companies involved; and on which occasions ministers from the Cabinet Office attended. [115783]

  The Prime Minister
  [holding answer 22 March 2000]: I have meetings with a wide range of individuals and organisations.

  UN Millennium Summit
  Mr. Gill
  To ask the Prime Minister which Government Ministers will attend the forthcoming United Nations Millennium Summit. [116252]

  The Prime Minister
  The United Kingdom delegation to the summit has yet to be decided.

  Interactive Website
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Prime Minister with what frequency he examines the comments posted by members of the public on the No. 10 interactive website he established in February; and what criteria he uses to judge whether comments should be deleted. [116265]
  39W
  The Prime Minister
  The No. 10 Downing Street Internet Site was relaunched on 11 February 2000. The public can post comments in the "Your Say" section. There have been more than 17,000 postings since the site's launch. "Your Say" is divided into two parts:

  (a) Policy Forum: the public are invited to respond to specific questions posed by the Government. I see a synopsis of the responses, and a selection of individual postings, which are sent to the relevant Government Department for a ministerial reply. I also receive a copy of the reply.

  (b) Speakers' Corner: this is an open forum where people can submit postings on any issue. A monthly report is sent to me and I see a selection of individual postings.

  Postings are deleted in the following circumstances:

  (a) They are irrelevant (i.e. have no relation to the discussion stream into which they are posted);

  (b) They are dormant (i.e. have not provoked any discussion for five or more days). This only applies to the Speakers' Corner section;

  (c) They are inappropriate (including those containing offensive, defamatory or libellous comments).

  Irrelevant and dormant postings are removed to ensure the site operates as quickly as possible, and users can enjoy a focused discussion on the issues they are interested in. Inappropriate postings are deleted so that everyone (including young children) can use the discussion forums.

  Pig Farmers
  Mr. Gill
  To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his oral answer of 8 March 2000,Official Report, column 999, what steps he is taking to fulfil his commitment to assist pig fanners. [116239]

  The Prime Minister
  In my speech to the National Farmers Union AGM on 1 February, I made it clear that further Government help for the UK pig industry had not been ruled out. But I made it equally clear that any investment by Government must be linked to long-term change in the structure of the industry and be part of an agreed overall strategy. How we take this forward will be part of the meeting I am holding with leaders from the agriculture and food industries on 30 March.

  Roger Liddle
  Mr. Ottaway
  To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer of 20 March 2000,Official Report, column 403W, on Roger Liddle, for what reason he did not provide the information requested about what occasions and at which venues during November and December 1999 his Defence and Foreign Affairs adviser made speeches in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) other European countries. [116127]

  The Prime Minister
  [holding answer 24 March 2000]: As my answer of 20 March made clear, Mr. Liddle attended seminars during the period in question and made some introductory remarks. He did not speak from a written text.

EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

  "Computers for Teachers"
  Mr. Breed
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) if the £500 subsidy for teachers purchasing computer equipment will be liable for income tax; [115565]

  (2) if the grant which teachers can claim towards computer purchase, as part of the "Computer for Teachers" initiative, is taxable as a benefit in kind. [115790]

  Mr. Wills
  The subsidy is an addition to income over and above salary, so income tax and national insurance contributions are payable. However, the DfEE has made arrangements with the Inland Revenue for these liabilities to be met centrally. No liability will fall on individual teachers, and they will not have to include the subsidy in any income tax return.

  Advertising
  Mr. Clappison
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much has been spent by his Department on advertising in each of the last 10 years. [115094]

  Mr. Wills
  The Department's spending on advertising as the Department for Education and Employment, and previously as the Employment Department and Department for Education, over the past 10 years is:

  £

  Employment Department

  1989–90

  2,016,305

  1990–91

  7,094,284

  1991–92

  9,154,140

  1992–93

  3,180,585

  1993–94

  7,259,450

  1994–95

  6,477,791

  1995–96

  7,713,740

  Department for Education

  1989–90

  260,883

  1990–91

  2,405,522

  1991–92

  2,562,505

  1992–93

  734,599

  1993–94

  1,379,573

  1994–95

  114,423

  1995–96

  582,134

  Department for Education and Employment

  1996–97

  7,537,917

  1997–98

  119,992,350

  1998–99

  215,673,258

  1 Of this £6,093.649 was used to attract businesses to New Deal

  2 Of this £6,578,202 was used to attract businesses to New Deal—by December 1999, New Deal had helped find jobs for 219,420 people and is helping cut welfare bills—and £1,848,223 was spent on a campaign to encourage parents to help with their children's reading.

  New Deal (18 to 24-year-olds)
  Mr. Allan
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list by unit of delivery(a) the number of leavers from the full-time education and employment option of the New Deal for 18 to 24-year-olds from January 1998 to the end of July 1999 and (b) the number of those who left to (i) sustained,

  41W
  unsubsidised employment, (ii) jobs lasting less than 13 weeks (iii) no known destination and (iv) benefits other than the jobseeker's allowance. [113675]

  Ms Jowell
  [holding answer 9 March 2000]: there is no full-time education and employment option in the new deal. However, there is a full time education and training option (FTET) and an employer option. For the period January 1998 to July 1999, the number of leavers from the full-time education and training option and their destinations are shown in tables placed in the Library.

  Child Care
  Mr. Clappison
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many child care places for under-8s have been available in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and what was the breakdown of places available through(a) day nurseries, (b) pre-school playgroups and (c) child minders. [116083]

  Ms Hodge
  The available information is shown in the following table. This information was also published on 22 December 1999 in the Statistical Volume "Children's Day care Facilities at 31 March 1999", which is available in the Library.

  Child care places in day nurseries, child minders and playgroups, 1997–99

  As at 31 March

  Day nurseries1 Total places

  Child minders2 Total places

  Playgroups1 Total places

  19993

  247,700

  337,000

  347,200

  19983

  223,000

  370,700

  383,600

  19973

  193,800

  365,200

  383,700

  1 The totals include local authority provided, registered and non-registered for day nurseries, and playgroups.

  2 Local authority provided and other registered persons for child minders.

  3 These figures have been rounded to the nearest 100 as appropriate.

  Early Years Development Plans
  Ms Buck
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will require local early years development plans to include data on the actual costs of nursery places and child minding places in each local authority. [116073]

  Ms Hodge
  We will consider requesting this information in future.

  Employment Service
  Mr. Oaten
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if employment service staff issuing equipment for the blind are required to declare interests in companies providing this equipment. [R][115960]

  Ms Jowell
  [holding answer 23 March 2000]: 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 Leigh Lewis to Mr. Mark Oaten, dated 27 March 2000:
  As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question regarding Employment Service staff declaring interests in companies
  42W
  providing equipment for the blind. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
  Exceptionally, Employment Service staff may, through the Access to Work programme, purchase equipment for disabled people to use in their job. In most cases, employers actually buy the equipment and claim the costs from the Employment Service. In these cases, Employment Service staff may advise the employer on likely sources of supply, especially where equipment is specialised or there are only a few suppliers.
  Employment Service staff who procure goods have to follow Treasury approved purchasing guidelines. These guidelines require that anyone with a personal interest in a purchase must report the fact to a senior manager. A decision is then made on whether the procurement should be passed to another member of staff who has no personal interest in the outcome.
  I hope this is helpful.

  Footballers
  Mr. Brady
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on negotiations between UEFA and the European Commission regarding the rules allowing professional footballers to work in any EEA country. [114850]

  Ms Hodge
  My Department notes with interest the discussions that have already taken place between the European Commission and UEFA and we will monitor closely any further developments on this matter.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

  Polis III System
  Mr. Key
  To ask the Chairman of the Information Committee if he will reintroduce the screen-based Polis III system for hon. Members and their staff in addition to the browser interface. [116347]

  Mr. Allan
  This is an operational matter falling within the remit of the Library and the Parliamentary Communications Directorate (PCD). I am advised that the decision to withdraw screen-based access to POLIS for the majority of PDVN users was implemented by PCD and the Library in order to comply with Parliament's IT convergence strategy. The cost of providing millennium compliant terminal emulation software to all PDVN users could not be justified, compared with the benefits of developing the browser-based version. The Library's POLIS development programme is now focused on that service. Future plans include active hypertext links to the text of the Official Report and other parliamentary publications in electronic format, and advanced search capability.

  I gather that screen-based POLIS is still available via one of the public access PCs in the Official Publications Library. I have asked the Librarian to investigate whether it could also be placed on the PCs in the Members Library.

  All-party Groups
  Sir John Stanley
  To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Nuneaton of 22 February 2000,Official Report, column 844W, on all-party groups, if the new rules for all-party groups apply retrospectively from the date of a group's last AGM or from the date of a group's

  43W
  first AGM following her answer; if meetings held outside the Palace of Westminster count towards the minimum annual requirement; if a meeting of a group held separately from, but on the same day, and at the same place, as the group's AGM counts towards the minimum annual requirement; and if meetings at which the number of hon. Members present falls below five at any point can be counted towards the minimum annual requirement. [115775]

  Mrs. Roe
  I will answer the points raised in my right hon. Friend's question in the order listed.

  The new rules have been applied simultaneously to all all-party parliamentary and associate parliamentary groups with effect from 29 February 2000 (ie the date on which each group was individually notified of them).

  As long as a meeting has been called by a group, (and is not just an event at which some group members are present, eg a reception), such a meeting would count towards the minimum total, regardless of where it was held; however, the group must keep a record so that it can provide the same information as is required of meetings held on the Parliamentary Estate.

  I understand that some groups' AGMs are solely to attend to administrative necessities (eg electing officers), while others may combine their AGM with an ordinary meeting (ie the AGM consists of a few minutes to attend to administrative necessities, followed by the real business). I think this is the separation to which my right hon. Friend refers; meetings count as separate meetings only if they are separated by a significant length of time (ie they are not held on the same day).

  The rules require five hon. Members, who are members of the group, to be present for the duration of every meeting.

  Overseas Research Assistants
  Mr. Oaten
  To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee if she will list those hon. Members who currently have passes for temporary research assistants from overseas. [116018]

  Mrs. Roe
  No. Details of an hon. Member's staff are matters entirely for that hon. Member and the relevant House authorities.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

  Cluster Development
  Mr. Pearson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish further details of the new funding to support cluster development, announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 21 March. [116660]

  Mr. Byers
  I can announce £50 million of new money to enable the RDAs to support clusters, including business incubation, in the English regions. The eight Regional Development Agencies (and the London Development Agency, when it is established in the summer) will be responsible for promoting the development of clusters in their respective regions: the new money, together with existing funding streams, will provide them with resources towards this. This new DTI initiative demonstrates the Government's commitment to strengthening the business agenda in the regions.
  44W
  RDAs are being invited to prepare business plans for their regions setting out their proposals to support clusters development in line with the Regional Economic Strategies. These plans will set out details of what each RDA intends to achieve using money allocated to them from the new fund. The £50 million will cover the financial years 2000–01 and 2001–02. Financial allocations for future years are being considered as part of the current Spending Review. Each RDA (and the LDA) will receive an allocation from the Capital Modernisation Fund of £1½ million for the coming financial year (2000–01). For the following year (2001–02), we shall introduce a "Challenge" element in the allocations.

  West Midlands Task Force
  Miss Kirkbride
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what party affiliations are recorded against the members of the West Midlands Task Force dealing with the situation at Longbridge. [116281]

  Mr. Alan Johnson
  The Longbridge Task Force is a non-political group consisting of representatives drawn from a wide range of organisations across the West Midlands. Each member has been invited to join by the Chairman, Alex Stephenson, who has selected individual participants on the basis of their experience and the contribution they can make to the work of the Task Force. There is no record of their individual party political affiliations.

  Hydro Agri (Immingham)
  Shona McIsaac
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the job losses at Hydro Agri in Immingham. [113840]

  Mr. Caborn
  [holding answer 10 March 2000]: I was aware that Hydro Agri's plant at Immingham was under review. I am naturally disappointed about the job losses which will result from the closure of the production side of the plant.

  It would be inappropriate for me to comment any further as this is a commercial decision, but the Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber stands ready to work with Yorkshire Forward and other relevant agencies to help with re-training and identifying new job opportunities if required.

  Welding Institute, Cambridge
  Mr. Paice
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the(a) grants made to and (b) contracts agreed by his Department or its agencies at the Welding Institute near Cambridge in (i) 1998 and (ii) 1999. [113879]

  Mr. Alan Johnson
  [holding answer 10 March 2000]: In 1998 the Department made total payments of £1,370,000 in grants or contracts to TWI. Much of this was for technology transfer activity in areas such as laser, plastics, structural composites and joining generally. The largest project (with grant of around 70 per cent. of the total paid) was to develop an internet based technology transfer delivery system based on BT communications expertise.
  45W
  In 1999 grants and contracts for similar work totalled £420,000 of which around 45 per cent, was to research the feasibility of developing their internet based technology transfer system into a knowledge trading system for other UK knowledge providers.

  In addition over this period TWI have secured grants through the North East Region for several projects funded from European Structural Funds, which the Department manages.

  Taiwan
  Dr. Gibson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to develop relationships through the Office of Science and Technology with Taiwan in the areas of science and technology. [113828]

  Mr. Byers
  The Office of Science and Technology attaches importance to facilitating civil scientific co-operation between the UK and Taiwan. A number of visits have recently been made by officials from Taiwan's National Science Council to discuss aspects of UK civil science policy. Dr. Jenn-Tai Hwang, Chairman of the National Science Council, will visit London in May this year.

  These contacts, and the work of staff in the British Trade and Cultural Office in Taipei to promote science and technology links, should raise the profile of UK science in Taiwan, and will help UK companies and the science base to gain access to Taiwanese innovation and technology.

  US imports from the UK

  Description

  US tariff code

  1998 (£ million)

  1999 (£ million)

  Percentage change 1998–99

  Absolute change (£ million)

  Batteries

  85072080

  10.80

  3.75

  -65.3

  -7.0

  Bath oils

  33073050

  4.76

  1.17

  -75.5

  -3.6

  Lithographs

  49119120

  2.56

  0.91

  -64.3

  -1.6

  Bed linen

  63022190

  0.34

  0.06

  -82.0

  -0.3

  Cartons

  48192000

  1.19

  0.79

  -33.6

  -0.4

  Coffee makers

  85167100

  0.62

  0.25

  -60.2

  -0.4

  Wallets

  42023210

  0.17

  0.07

  -61.2

  -0.1

  Handbags

  42022215

  0.01

  0.01

  -12.2

  0.0

  Felt paper

  48055000

  0.00

  0.00

  —

  —

  Total

  —

  20.44

  7.00

  -66.0

  -13.4

  Source:

  US International Trade Commission website. Converted to £ sterling using average sterling/dollar rates for each year.

  ONS Economic Trends

  The actual impact on UK companies in the targeted sectors will depend on a number of factors, including the length of time that the retaliatory measures remain in place, and the ability of affected companies to find alternative customers for their goods. However, I have received many representations from UK companies affected by the US retaliation. Taking into account these representations and the above data, my assessment is that there is a real risk of damage to UK companies in terms of lost trade and jobs.

  Synchrotron
  Ms Southworth
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if, when he wrote to the Welcome

  Global Enterprise Initiative
  Mr. Paul Marsden
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the effectiveness of the Global Enterprise Initiative. [116046]

  Mr. Caborn
  The Global Enterprise Initiative will be launched in the United Kingdom later this spring. It is a British Trade International scheme designed to bring British and Indian companies together in commercial co-operation—eg joint ventures or distribution agreements. We seek to encourage British firms to look again at the growing opportunities for them in India. The scheme has been tested successfully on the ground in India, and during his visit to India in January, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry announced a target for the Global Enterprise Initiative to develop 200 new business partnerships over the next two years.

  Banana Dispute
  Mr. Sayeed
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the impact on United Kingdom companies of the banana dispute between the European Union and the United States. [115999]

  Mr. Caborn
  The United States has World Trade Organisation authority to retaliate up to an annual monetary value of $191.4 million against EU goods. The sectors that the US has chosen to include in this authorised retaliation, and the trends in US imports from the UK of these products, are as follows:

  Trust on 4 October 1999 to inform them that he was minded to locate Diamond at Daresbury, he wrote similarly to the French Government. [115632]

  Mr. Byers
  [holding answer 21 March 2000]: I did not.

TREASURY

  Departmental Secondment
  Mr. Willis
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 6 March 2000,Official Report,column 524W, on departmental secondment, if he will list the companies from which staff were seconded to his

  47W
  Department in the periods (a) May 1997 to April 1998, (b) May 1998 to April 1999 and (c) May 1999 to the latest date for which figures are available. [114544]

  Miss Melanie Johnson
  [holding answer 15 March 2000]: The information is as follows:

  1 May 1997 to 30 April 1998

  1 May 1998 to 30 April 1999

  1 May 1999 to date

  British Petroleum

  British Petroleum

  —

  Arthur Andersen

  Arthur Andersen

  Arthur Andersen

  BZW

  BZW

  —

  Coopers and Lybrand

  Coopers and Lybrand

  Coopers and Lybrand

  Tarmac

  Tarmac

  —

  Price Waterhouse

  Price Waterhouse

  —

  Pannell, Kerr Foster Associates

  Pannell, Kerr Foster Associates

  Pannell, Kerr Foster Associates

  Midland Bank

  Midland Bank

  Midland Bank

  —

  Slaughter and May

  Slaughter and May

  Ernst and Young

  Ernst and Young

  Ernst and Young

  Quality Business Management

  Quality Business Management

  Quality Business Management

  Esso

  —

  —

  Peat Marwick

  —

  —

  Robson Rhodes

  —

  —

  —

  Manpower

  Manpower

  —

  Deloitte Touche

  Deloitte Touche

  —

  Price WaterhouseCoopers

  Price WaterhouseCoopers

  —

  Dilston Management

  Dilston Management

  —

  —

  Financial Services Agency

  —

  —

  Brunswick Public Relations

  —

  —

  Institute of Fiscal Studies

  Bank Closures
  Mr. Gordon Prentice
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has made to the Chief Executive of Barclays Bank concerning its policy of closing banks in small towns and rural areas; and if he will make a statement. [116130]

  Dr. Jack Cunningham
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has made to Barclays Bank plc about their branch closure policy; what reply he has received; and if he will make a statement. [115996]

  Miss Melanie Johnson
  [holding answer 24 March 2000]: I refer my hon. Friend and my right hon. Friend to the reply given on 20 March 2000, Official Report, column reference 444–45W.

  Earnings Statistics
  Mr. Moore
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what is the percentage of full-time workers in(a) Scotland, (b) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (c) Great Britain whose earnings on the basis of gross pay, (a) including and (b) excluding overtime were less than (i) £272.07 per week, (ii) £249.53 per week, (iii) £187.15 per week and (iv) £140 per week for the categories: (1) male manual, (2) male non-manual, (3) all male workers, (4) female manual, (5) female
  48W
  non-manual, (6) all female workers, (7) all manual, (8) all non-manual and (9) all workers at the latest date for which figures are available; [115789]

  (2) if he will list the average weekly earnings on the basis of gross pay (a) including and (b) excluding overtime for full-time workers in (i) Scotland, (ii) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (iii) Great Britain for (1) all manual, (2) all non-manual and (3) all workers at the latest date for which figures are available. [115788]

  Miss Melanie Johnson
  The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.

  Letter from John Pullinger to Mr. Michael Moore, dated 27 March 2000:
  The Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been asked to reply to your recent questions about earnings for workers in Scotland, the unitary areas in Scotland and Great Britain. I am replying in Dr Holt's absence.
  The New Earnings Survey (NES) can provide earnings data for small geographical areas. However, the release of NES data is restricted to figures that are derived from a sufficiently large sample of employees, and have an acceptable level of accuracy. I have provided the available data for Scotland, the unitary authorities in Scotland and Great Britain in the attached tables. These are based on the 1999 NES, the latest survey for which data are available. These are large tables and copies of them are being placed in the Library of the House rather than reproduced in Hansard.
  The NES is based on a one per cent sample of employees in the PAYE system and is therefore likely to under-represent relatively low paid staff earning below the tax threshold and in particular those who work part-time.

  Working Families Tax Credit
  Mr. Willetts
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much he estimates will be spent in(a)1999–2000 and (b)2000–01 on the Working Families Tax Credit broken down between (i) basic tax credit, (ii) 30 hour tax credit, (iii) the child tax credits, broken down by age of child and (iv) the childcare tax credit. [115284]

  Dawn Primarolo
  [holding answer 20 March 2000]: It is not possible to provide a split of total expenditure between types of credit. The amount of award payable is reduced for families whose incomes are above the threshold, and this reduction is applied to the total value of all credits taken together.

  Dr. Jack Cunningham
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the take-up rate for Working Families Tax Credit in(a) Cumbria and (b) Copeland; and if he will make a statement. [115143]

  Dawn Primarolo
  [holding answer 20 March 2000]: It is estimated that 7,600 families in Cumbria had been awarded the Working Families Tax Credit by the end of February 2000, of which 1,100 were families in Copeland.

  Miss Geraldine Smith
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in Morecambe and Lunesdale have benefited from Working Families Tax Credit since its introduction. [115715]

  Dawn Primarolo
  It is estimated that 1,800 families in the Morecambe and Lunesdale constituency have been awarded the Working Families Tax Credit by the end of February 2000.
  49W
  Mr. Kidney
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many residents of Stafford constituency have(a) applied for and (b) received working families tax credit; and what has been the average award. [115569]

  Dawn Primarolo
  It is estimates that 1,400 families in the Stafford constituency have been awarded the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) by the end of February 2000.

  It is not possible to provide a reliable estimate of the average value of these awards. However, for the United Kingdom as a whole the average value of WFTC awards made up to the end of February 2000 was £71.48 per week, and for the West Midlands region the average was £72.42 per week.

  Ms Harman
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many families with children in Southwark he estimates are eligible for working families tax credit; [114840]

  (2) how many people in Southwark were in receipt of (a) family credit and (b) the child care allowance in each of the last five years. [114835]

  Dawn Primarolo
  It is estimated that 2,800 families in Southwark have been awarded the Working Families Tax Credit by the end of February 2000.

  Nationally, about 10 per cent. of awards of Working Families Tax Credit include a child care tax credit. There are too few cases in the 5 per cent. sample used for these analyses to provide a reliable estimate of the number of awards with a child care tax credit in Southwark.

  Dr. Gibson
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what was the annual expenditure by Government on(a) working families tax credit and (b) childcare tax credit in Norwich in each of the last five years; [115100]

  (2) how many families in Norwich are eligible for working families tax credit; [115097]

  (3)how many people in Norwich are in receipt of (a) working families tax credit and (b) childcare tax credit. [115098]

  Dawn Primarolo
  It is estimated that 2,400 families in Norwich have been awarded the working families tax credit by the end of February 2000. Nationally, about 10 per cent. of awards of working families tax credit include a childcare tax credit. There are too few cases in the 5 per cent. sample used for these analyses to provide reliable estimates of the number of awards with a childcare tax credit in Norwich, or of expenditure on awards in Norwich.

  Tax Credits
  Mr. Willetts
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total cost of the(a) information packs and (b) videos that have been sent to those employers who are expected to administer the Working Families Tax Credit and the Disabled Persons Tax Credit. [113585]

  Dawn Primarolo
  [holding answer 8 March 2000]: Information packs and videos have been produced by the Inland Revenue as part of a comprehensive programme of support for employers involved in administering the Working Families Tax Credit and the Disabled Persons Tax Credit. The total cost of adding tax credits material
  50W
  to the information packs already being sent to employers is £533,000. The total cost of making the video, and of sending a copy directly to smaller employers likely to benefit most from it, is £702,000.

  Costs are inclusive of Value Added Tax.

  National Insurance Contributions Office
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to subject the National Insurance Contributions Office to legal obligations equivalent to those imposed on employers by the Pensions Act 1995. [115982]

  Dawn Primarolo
  [holding answer 23 March 2000]: There are no such plans.

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the amount of money which the National Insurance Contributions Office will pay in the age-related element of the NIC rebate to contracted-out money purchase schemes for the financial year 1999–2000; how much of that sum has so far been paid into schemes by the National Insurance Contributions Office; and if he will make a statement. [115981]

  Dawn Primarolo
  [holding answer 23 March 2000]: The overall amount of age-related rebates paid into the financial year 1999–2000, up to and including 1 March 2000, is £2,348,720,798. This amount includes rebates for personal pension and contracted-out money purchase schemes. The amount of rebates paid solely to contracted-out money purchase schemes in the 1999–2000 financial year is not currently available. All of the amount above has been paid to schemes, except £131,360,489 million that will be paid on 3 April 2000.

  Disabled Person's Tax Credit
  Mr. Ennis
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many disabled people in(a) Barnsley and (b) Doncaster have benefited from the disabled person's tax credit since its introduction. [115198]

  Dawn Primarolo
  107 people in Barnsley, and 140 people in Doncaster, have been awarded the Disabled Person's Tax Credit by the end of February 2000.

NORTHERN IRELAND

  Protected Tenancy Dwellings
  Mr. William Ross
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list for each council area in Northern Ireland the number of protected tenancy dwellings; and, of these, in each area how many are(a) restricted tenancies and (b) regulated tenancies. [112939]

  Mr. George Howarth
  The information requested is as follows:

  Council area

  Restricted tenancies

  Regulated tenancies

  Total

  Antrim

  10

  34

  44

  Ards

  59

  287

  346

  Armagh

  3

  40

  43

  Ballymena

  3

  55

  58

  51W

  Council area

  Restricted tenancies

  Regulated tenancies

  Total

  Ballymoney

  1

  32

  33

  Banbridge

  3

  31

  34

  Belfast

  158

  3,341

  3,499

  Carrickfergus

  5

  87

  92

  Castlereagh

  5

  128

  133

  Coleraine

  1

  76

  77

  Cookstown

  3

  38

  41

  Craigavon

  55

  397

  452

  Down

  5

  50

  55

  Dungannon and South Tyrone

  2

  67

  69

  Fermanagh

  1

  45

  46

  Larne

  1

  131

  133

  Limavady

  0

  24

  24

  Lisburn

  27

  217

  244

  Derry

  3

  52

  55

  Magherafelt

  1

  35

  36

  Moyle

  1

  9

  10

  Newry and Mourne

  9

  93

  102

  Newtownabbey

  6

  611

  617

  North Down

  25

  179

  204

  Omagh

  0

  35

  35

  Strabane

  3

  40

  43

  Household Division
  Mr. DuncanSmith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will place in the Library his recent correspondence with the Major General commanding the Household Division. [115377]

  Mr. Mandelson
  The correspondence referred to is personal between myself and the Major General commanding the Household Division. It is therefore not appropriate to place a copy in the Library. I made public my regrets for my remarks during Northern Ireland questions in the House on 15 March, and the Major General has stated that he is perfectly content with my response and that the matter is closed.

  Police Authority
  Mr. William Ross
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what sums have been spent by the Police Authority on works to their office accommodation in each of the last three financial years and in the current year to date for which figures are available. [115587]

  Mr. Ingram
  Sums spent by the Police Authority on works to their office accommodation in each of the last three financial years and the current year to the latest date are as follows:

  £

  1996–97

  12,067

  1997–98

  62,597

  1998–99

  29,969

  1999–2000

  1,022

  Prisoner Release
  Mr. Pickthall
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on his recent decision to suspend the licence of a prisoner who was released under the Good Friday Agreement. [116694]
  52W
  Mr. Mandelson
  This was the first time this power has been exercised but should I receive evidence that any other prisoners who have benefited from early release breach their license conditions, I will act immediately.

  Prisoners released early in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement are released on license and are subject to strict licence conditions.

  For a fixed-term prisoner, these conditions are:

  (a) that he does not support a specified organisation (within the meaning of section 3 of the Sentences Act), and

  (b) that he does not become concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism connected with the affairs of Northern Ireland.

  I have made it clear that anyone of whom I have evidence that they have breached these conditions would have their license suspended and be returned to custody.

  Given the circumstances of the case in question, I had no hesitation in suspending the licence in accordance with the legislation.

  The matter has been referred to the Sentence Review Commissioners (the prisoner may apply to them should he wish his case to be reconsidered).

CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

  Church Sales
  Mr. Paterson
  To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners, if he will make a statement on the Commissioners' policy on the conditions attached to the sale of redundant churches relating to their subsequent use. [114847]

  Mr. Stuart Bell
  The Commissioners normally impose covenants on the new owner restricting the use to that approved and prohibiting unauthorised architectural changes, the disturbance of any human remains or memorials and demolition.

  Common Worship
  Mr. Swayne
  To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners, what estimate the Commissioners have made of the impact of "Common Worship" on the number of vocations. [114848]

  Mr. Stuart Bell
  Liturgy and fostering vocations are not the direct responsibility of the Commissioners. It is not possible to demonstrate a correlation between new liturgy and the rise and fall in the number of ordinations and ordinands.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

  Chinese President (State Visit)
  Mrs. Gillan
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations were made to his Department by the Chinese authorities regarding the policing of the Chinese state visit last October. [113744]
  53W
  Mr. Battle
  I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Cynon Valley (Ann Clwyd) on 28 October 1999,Official Report, column 993W.

  Mrs. Gillan
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many meetings were held between his Department's officials and representatives of police services involved with policing the Chinese state visit. [113745]

  Mr. Battle
  I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Mr. Maples) on 4 November 1999,Official Report, columns 271-72W. There was one meeting with the Cambridgeshire Constabulary on 1 October 1999.

  Mrs. Gillan
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many meetings were held between his Department and Chinese authorities regarding the policing of the Chinese state visit last October. [113742]

  Mr. Battle
  I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Mr. Maples) on 4 November 1999,Official Report, columns 271–72W.

  Dialogue on Europe
  Mr. Spring
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will estimate the cost to public funds of the training programme for young citizens of the member states who will be attending the launch of the European Commission's Dialogue on Europe. [114135]

  Mr. Vaz
  [holding answer 14 March 2000]: The young people taking part in the launch of the European Commission's "Dialogue on Europe" were all participants in the long-standing programme of graduate traineeships with that institution. In 2000, 4.2 million euro have been allocated in the European Union budget for the operation of the traineeships programme.

  The launch of "Dialogue on Europe" took place at the biannual welcome event for the new intake of trainees on 1 March 2000. The additional costs to the EU budget are estimated by the Commission at 25,000 euro.

  The Government are keen to raise awareness of the European dimension of the work of UK Government Departments, and a secondment to one of the EU institutions serves that aim. Details of "stage" opportunities for UK civil servants are circulated biannually by the Cabinet Office, which also process the applications received. Staff input cannot be reliably quantified, but is not onerous. A maximum of five European Fast Streamers (the UK Government's development programme for British graduates who wish to make a career in the EU institutions) go on a "stage" in each biannual intake. Their salary and allowances while in Brussels are paid by the Cabinet Office.

  Tibet
  Mr. Stevenson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will raise concerns on human rights abuses in Chinese-occupied 54W
  Tibet in the United Kingdom's ministerial statements at the United Nations Commission for Human Rights. [115091]

  Mr. Hain
  I delivered the United Kingdom's opening plenary statement at the Commission on Human Rights on 23 March. A copy has been placed in the Library of the House. The speech is also available on the Foreign Office website (www.fco.gov.uk).

  Gedhun Choekyi Nyima
  Mr. Hancock
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received relating to the safety of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his possible release from his captivity; what is the UK's policy on the matter; and if he will make a statement. [115924]

  Mr. Battle
  We are concerned about the situation of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Dalai Lama's choice as the 11th Panchen Lama, and take every appropriate opportunity to press the Chinese Government to allow access to the boy to verify his health and living conditions. I did so myself when I met the Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister, Wang Yingfan, on 9 November 1999, following the disturbing reports that Gedhun had died. We subsequently received a written assurance that he was alive and well.

  The Chinese authorities maintain that Gedhun's parents want him to live a normal life and do not want visitors. While accepting the wishes of the parents, we continue to press the Chinese authorities to nominate an independent figure acceptable to the Chinese Government, the parents and the Tibetan leadership to meet with the boy.

  East Timor
  Ann Clwyd
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received about how many refugees have been returned from West Timor to East Timor and how many refugees remain in West Timor. [116105]

  Mr. Battle
  Over 150,000 refugees have now returned to East Timor. There are no reliable figures for the number remaining in West Timor, but as of 22 March the UN estimated the number at up to 100,000 refugees.

  We will continue to press the Indonesian authorities to enable those who wish to return to East Timor to do so safely and speedily.

  Diplomatic Relations
  Mr. Cox
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the countries with which the UK has no diplomatic relations. [116210]

  Mr. Battle
  The United Kingdom has no diplomatic relations with Bhutan, Iraq, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or North Korea.

  Minority Languages
  Mr. Andrew George
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what UK regional or minority languages the Government recognises in relation to the recent UK signing of the Council of Europe Charter on Regional or Minority Languages. [115997]
  55W
  Mr. Vaz
  The UK will apply the general provisions of the Charter in respect of all the languages which meet the Charter's definition of a regional or minority language. The Government recognise that this definition embraces Scots and Ulster-Scots and are considering what other languages, including Cornish, also meet the definition. To fulfil the Charter's requirement to implement specific provisions to promote the use of certain languages in public life, the Government intend to specify Welsh, Scots-Gaelic and Irish.

HEALTH

  Medical Technical Officers
  Mr. Austin
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he plans to take in respect of the survey published recently by the MSF union on levels of pay and morale of medical technical officers in the NHS. [112443]

  Mr. Denham
  [holding answer 1 March 2000]: We recognise that the Scientific and Technical staff groups employed and trained in the National Health Service have been experiencing recruitment, retention and a range of other human resource problems. Therefore, we aim to develop a human resource strategy that will underpin the education and training, recruitment and retention and general career development for NHS HCHS scientists and technicians. Medical Technical Officers (MTOs) are a part of this work force.

  This work will be taken forward as an integral part of the work programme of the National Advisory Group for Scientists and Technicians (NAGST).

  NAGST is collaborating with the professions to ensure the National Health Service has an adequate supply of competent scientists and technicians. There are three strands to the current work programme:

  collection of work force data;

  work force planning;

  implementation.

  A pay offer is with the staff side of the Professional and Technical Staffs' B Whitley Council covering Medical Technical Officers for:
  an increase of 3 per cent. or £250, whichever is the higher for 1999–2000;
  an increase of 3.25 per cent. or £300 whichever is the higher for 2000–01; and
  in the context of agreement on the negotiations on Agenda for Change (including the principle of pay linkage as set out in paragraph 7.4 of the Joint Framework of Principles and Agreed Statement on the Way Forward issued on 8 October 1999) and the joint commitment to lifelong learning, a minimum RPI(X) at December 2000 reported in January 2001, plus 0.5 per cent.

  Adoption
  Mrs. Spelman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many adoption breakdowns there have been in each of the last five years; and what plans he has for greater funding of post-adoption support and advice. [112750]
  56W
  Mr. Hutton
  Information about the number of adoption breakdowns in the last five years is available in the form of the number of children who enter care as a result of adoption breakdowns. The figures do not distinguish between the adoption breakdowns of "looked after" children placed for adoption by local authorities; children placed by voluntary adoption agencies; children placed privately with relatives by birth parents; children adopted by step-parents.

  Estimated numbers1 of children who started to be looked after, with reason for being looked after coded as 'adopted child—breakdown of adoptive family', England, 1995 to 1999 2,3

  Year ending 31 March

  Number of children starting to be looked after

  1995

  50

  1996

  70

  1997

  60

  19984

  50

  19994

  50

  1 Data are rounded to the nearest 10

  2 Excludes children looked after under an agreed series of short term placements

  3 Only the first occasion on which a child started to be looked after in the year has been counted

  4 Estimates based on a one third sample of looked after children

  The Government's Quality Protects programme aims to develop a modern adoption service that is more responsive in all its aspects, including post-adoption support, to meet the best interests of children and the needs of birth parents and adoptive parents. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is reviewing with ministerial colleagues how we can build on Quality Protects, moving further and faster to secure our aim of maximising the use of adoption for all children for whom it is appropriate and also minimising delay.

  The table shows the number of pre-adoptive breakdowns for the same period.

  Pre-adoptive breakdown: Estimated number1 of placements for adoption ceasing during the years ending 31 March 1995 to 19992, England

  of which

  Year

  Total number of placements

  Percentage that ended in adoption

  Percentage that did not end in adoption

  1995

  1,600

  80

  20

  1996

  1,620

  77

  23

  1997

  1,560

  78

  22

  19983

  1,790

  85

  15

  19993

  1,800

  82

  18

  1 Data are rounded to the nearest 10

  2 Excludes children looked after under an agreed series of short term placements

  3 Estimates based on a one third sample of looked after children

  HSG(94)27
  Dr. Cable
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will list by name of subject and health authority the independent inquiries established under HSG(94)27 which are currently being conducted; [113748]
  57W
  (2) if he will list by name of report and health authority all the independent homicide inquiries established under HSG(94)27, the reports of which were published since February 1994. [113749]

  Mr. Hutton
  [holding answer 9 March 2000]: The information requested has been placed in the Library.

  NHS Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS): All nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff, Practice Nurses and NHS Doctors within London Regional Office Area and England as at 30 September each year

  All nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff

  Practice nurses

  NHS doctors

  Whole-time equivalent

  Numbers (headcount)

  Whole-time equivalent

  Numbers (headcount)

  London regional office area

  England

  London regional office area

  England

  London regional office area

  England

  London regional office area

  England

  1979

  1—

  316,840

  1—

  372,070

  1—

  990

  1—

  59,850

  1980

  1—

  327,800

  1—

  381,560

  1—

  1,070

  1—

  61,270

  1981

  1—

  347,010

  1—

  397,420

  1—

  1,240

  1—

  62,560

  1982

  64,370

  391,110

  71,210

  447,540

  1—

  1,450

  1—

  63,540

  1983

  67,380

  394,680

  76,410

  452,380

  1—

  1,660

  1—

  64,820

  1984

  66,680

  393,740

  77,320

  452,450

  1—

  1,920

  1—

  65,130

  1985

  64,990

  397,030

  77,270

  458,410

  1—

  2,210

  1—

  66,040

  1986

  63,920

  397,240

  75,260

  459,080

  1—

  2,500

  1—

  66,770

  1987

  59,270

  397,910

  72,900

  463,310

  2300

  22,770

  11,800

  69,530

  1988

  62,920

  397,840

  76,200

  465,060

  410

  3,480

  12,050

  70,910

  1989

  63,670

  398,660

  77,890

  467,700

  570

  4,630

  12,580

  72,450

  1990

  58,020

  395,360

  64,630

  463,790

  1,140

  7,740

  12,560

  73,720

  1991

  63,960

  396,130

  73,520

  477,570

  1,230

  8,780

  12,880

  74,680

  1992

  65,640

  382,020

  76,850

  463,740

  1,210

  9,120

  12,910

  75,740

  1993

  57,480

  366,240

  66,160

  450,360

  1,390

  9,600

  13,910

  77,280

  1994

  55,160

  353,130

  64,340

  436,100

  1,320

  9,100

  14,630

  77,970

  1995

  49,410

  330,440

  59,010

  411,840

  1,370

  9,740

  15,560

  81,000

  1996

  51,180

  332,660

  60,910

  415,750

  1,460

  9,820

  15,790

  83,090

  1997

  51,450

  330,620

  62,140

  417,570

  1,530

  10,080

  16,550

  86,050

  1998

  51,610

  332,200

  63,870

  421,750

  1,550

  10,360

  16,870

  88,230

  1 Not applicable.

  2 Data for London in 1987 are incomplete, there are no data below national level prior to 1987. In April 1996, FHSAs merged to form Health Authorities, in this process some of Barnet FHSA split to form part of West Hertfordshire (which is not in the London Region).

  Notes:

  1. Figures are rounded to the nearest ten.

  2. 1995 to 1998 figures exclude learners and agency staff. Figures from 1982 to 1994 include learners, trainees and students.

  3. England figures for 1979 to 1981 include staff in certain centrally-based services, ie, family planning, occupational health and staff nurseries. Excluded are regional nursing officers, nursing cadets, agency staff and staff in the blood transfusion service and primary health care services. These figures were taken from 'Health and personal Social Services Statistics for England'.

  4. London Regional Office Area figures from 1979 to 1981 are not available.

  5. Due to a change in classification in 1995 for collecting the data, from payscale to occupation code, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998 figures are not comparable with earlier years.

  Source:

  Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census.

  Notes for Practice Nurses:

  1. The whole of Barnet FHSA has been included prior to 1996, data from 1996 onwards will not include staff who left Barnet FHSA to join West Hertfordshire HA.

  Source:

  Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.

  Notes for NHS Doctors:

  1. All Doctors includes doctors in hospitals, public health medicine, the community health services. General Medical Services and Personal Medical Services. Hospital Practitioners and Clinical Assistants are excluded, as most of these are also GPs. The figures exclude doctors working in the HCHS sector in one of the dental specialities.

  2. London figures should be interpreted with caution. The London Regional Office came into being on 1 April 1999 while the former Thames Regional Offices covered areas outside London. The 1998 figures are for the (shadow) London Regional Office. The 1987 to 1997 figures are estimates from Health Authorities (Family Health Service Authorities and District Health Authorities prior to 1996) or NHS Trusts that would now be in the London Region. Some HCHS doctors may be counted more than once. This is because they will be counted once for each region where they worked, based on the regional structure in place at the time, and also in the current London region which overlaps with more than one of the former regions.

  3. It is not possible to provide numbers for all doctors in London from 1979 to 1986. While estimates for GPs are available, because these were returned by Family Service Health Authorities, estimates for all other doctors are not because these were only returned at regional level and the former Thames regions are not comparable with the new London region.

  NHS Staff
  Mr. Gareth R. Thomas
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many(a) doctors and (b) nurses there were (i) nationally and (ii) in London in each year between 1979 and 1999. [115086]

  Mr. Denham
  The available information is shown in the table.

  Drug Prescribing (Children)
  Mr. Love
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) in what circumstances the prescribing of a drug to a child in care can be challenged by the parents, if they believe that the child may have suffered an adverse reaction to the drug, where that adverse reaction is (i) reported and (ii) unreported; [115521]

  (2) in what circumstances independent medical advice can be sought when there is a disagreement between parents and the local authority with a duty of care for a child who may have suffered an adverse reaction to a drug, where that reaction is (a) reported and (b) unreported; and if he will make a statement; [115523]

  (3) in what circumstances the local authority with a responsibility of care for a child could challenge the prescribing of a drug to that child if they believe the child may have suffered an adverse reaction to the drug, where that adverse reaction is (a) reported and (b) unreported. [115522]

  Mr. Hutton
  Where a child is looked after by a local authority and is on a care order, the local authority has parental responsibility for the child. It shares that parental responsibility with the child's parent(s), but the local authority has the power to determine the extent to which the parents may exercise their parental responsibility in relation to the child. Where a child is looked after by a local authority and the authority is accommodating the child, it does not have parental responsibility—but a person may arrange for someone else to discharge all or some of it on their behalf, so a parent whose child is accommodated may arrange for the local authority to be responsible on their behalf. Even without such an arrangement, the local authority may do what is reasonable for the purpose of safeguarding or promoting the child's welfare, which may include arranging for urgent medical attention.

  Centrally Funded Special Schemes
  Mr. Mitchell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the total spending by his Department for the last five available years on centrally funded special schemes in(a) the Northern and (b) the Yorkshire and Humberside Region. [114904]

  Mr. Denham
  The information requested has been placed in the Library.

  Correspondence
  Mr. Luff
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire of 24 January about care homes in Worcestershire. [115568]

  Mr. Hutton
  I replied to the hon. Member on 22 March.

  Psychiatric Beds
  Dr. Cable
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of available acute psychiatric beds were used in(a) 1997–98, (b) 1998–99 and (c) the first two quarters of 1999–2000. [115786]
  60W
  Mr. Hutton
  The percentages of available acute psychiatric beds used in 1997–98 and 1998–99 were 86.5 per cent, and 87.5 per cent, respectively.

  Data for the first two quarters of 1999–2000 for the same breakdown are not available as the source of the acute psychiatric bed availability and occupancy figures are collected annually.

  Children's Services (Human Rights Act)
  Mr. Hammond
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the impact of the coming into force of the Human Rights Act 1998 on the provision of children's services. [115847]

  Mr. Hutton
  Government Departments are undertaking a broad assessment of the likely impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on their work, as part of the preparations for implementation on 2 October 2000. This task is in progress in the Department of Health and includes children's services with our other responsibilities.

  Waterhouse Report
  Mr. Hammond
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons he was unable to act prior to publication of the Waterhouse report in extending the consultancy index to include people named in that report. [115848]

  Mr. Hutton
  We were unable to act on the information contained in the Waterhouse report until after the report had been presented to Parliament. However, following publication, immediate action was taken to extend the Department's consultancy index to include eligible named individuals who had been convicted of offences against children or against whom a clear finding had been made in the report. This action enabled us to include on the index individuals falling into these categories who had not previously been referred to the index through another route.

  Outpatients (Avon)
  Mr. Cotter
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of Avon health authority's scheme to reduce outpatient waiting times by guaranteeing a number of outpatient appointments for each primary care group; and if he will make a statement. [116002]

  Mr. Denham
  Avon health authority, working with local general practitioners and trusts, is looking at ways of improving orthopaedic waiting times. As part of this work the health authority is considering how the successful pilot scheme, operated by North Bristol National Health Service Trust and North West Bristol Primary Care Group, which guarantees individual GP practices a specified number of outpatient appointments can be extended across the health authority area. No formal assessment of the North Bristol pilot scheme has been undertaken by the NHS Executive. We welcome local initiatives to reduce outpatient waiting times by involving PCGs.

  Learning Disabilities
  Mr. Cotter
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures he will take to ensure that services for
  61W
  children with learning disabilities in the Weston-Super-Mare area will not decline following the disbandment of Phoenix NHS Trust. [116010]

  Ms Stuart
  It is the responsibility of Avon health authority, working together with local National Health Service trusts and primary care groups, to ensure that appropriate services for children with learning disabilities are provided. I understand that the Chief Executive of the authority has recently written to the hon. Member assuring him of the health authority's commitment to ensuring that the same level of services is available following the disbandment of Phoenix NHS Trust.

  Weston Area Health Trust
  Mr. Cotter
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is the staff to patient ratio for children with learning disabilities within the Weston Area Health Trust; [116006]

  (2) if he will estimate the staff to patient ratio for children with learning disabilities within the Weston Area Health Trust following the disbanding of the Phoenix NHS Trust. [116007]

  Ms Stuart
  The Department does not collect the requested information. The hon. Member may wish to contact Ms Martha Perriam, Chairman of Weston Area Health National Health Service Trust, for the information.

  Avon Health Authority
  Mr. Cotter
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the annual NHS funding allocated to Avon Health Authority for 2000–01. [116004]

  Ms Stuart
  Avon Health Authority's revenue allocation for 2000–01 is £629.4 million, which represents a cash increase of £40.7 million (6.9 per cent.). Money from the £660 million announced by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 22 March will be allocated to health authorities shortly.

  Capital Prioritisation Process
  Mr. Norman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he has begun to consider the conclusions of the review of the Capital Prioritisation Process; and when he expects to make an announcement on the outcome. [116116]

  Mr. Denham
  The review of the capital prioritisation process is currently under way. Ministers will make an announcement about the outcome in due course.

  Oxted and Limpsfield Community Hospital
  Mr. Peter Ainsworth
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the future of Oxted and Limpsfield Community Hospital. [116043]

  Mr. Denham
  [holding answer 23 March 2000]: The Surrey and Sussex National Health Service Trust is currently preparing a full business case for the reprovision of Oxted and Limpsfield Community Hospital. The case will be assessed by the South East Region of the NHS Executive once it has been submitted.

  Hospital Waiting Lists
  Mr. Oaten
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were on NHS inpatient waiting lists in each year since 1979 for which figures are available(a) nationally and (b) in each health authority (i) fully and (ii) partially in Hampshire, including the unitary authorities of Southampton and Portsmouth. [116019]

  Mr. Denham
  [holding answer 23 March 2000]: The information requested can be found in the "Hospital Waiting List Statistics: England. Quarter ending", copies of which are available in the Library.

  Children's Homes (Staff)
  Mr. Ruane
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff of children's homes providing 24 hour care in the(a) voluntary, (b) local authority and (c) private sector were (i) raped, (ii) sexually assaulted, (iii) victims of grievous bodily harm and (iv) murdered by residents in the last three years. [116199]

  Mr. Hutton
  [holding answer 24 March 2000]: Information about the number of incidents of violence against the staff of children's homes is not collected centrally. However, we are determined to reduce substantially the incidence of violence towards everyone working in social care. We have set up a taskforce to produce a national action plan by November 2000 with recommendations and timescales for action to reduce violence against social care staff and to promote the safety and welfare of all social care workers.

  Oxaliplatin
  Mr. Webb
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will ask the National Institute for Clinical Excellence to assess the effectiveness of the cancer drug Oxaliplatin. [116129]

  Ms Stuart
  [holding answer 24 March 2000]: We are considering a number of possible additional topics for appraisal by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence during the year 2000–01, including a number of anti-cancer drugs. An announcement will be made shortly.

  Prozac
  Mr. Baker
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the prescription of Prozac to children under 10 years; and what guidelines in respect of the prescription of Prozac his Department has issued. [116102]

  Ms Stuart
  Prozac is not licensed for treatment of children. Doctors prescribe medicines outside their licensed indications in the knowledge that they then bear the full legal and clinical responsibility for the patient's condition in relation to that treatment.

  Doctors are advised of the clinical considerations which are relevant to their prescribing decisions in publications such as the British National Formulary (BNF). The BNF advises that Prozac is not recommended for children.

  Broomfield Hospital
  Mr. Burns
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 16 March 2000,Official Report,column 304W, and the appeal by the Mid-Essex CHC

  63W
  against the closure of wards at Broomfield Hospital, if he will order the three wards to be (a) kept open or (b) reopened until he has determined the appeal. [116027]

  Mr. Denham
  Following detailed discussions between North Essex health authority, Mid Essex Hospital Services National Health Service Trust and local primary care groups as part of the Service and Financial Framework for 2000–01, an agreement has been reached to reopen the remaining beds at Broomfield Hospital which had been taken out of use.

  Long-term Care
  Mr. Burstow
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Coventry, South (Mr. Cunningham) of 20 March 2000,Official Report,column 430W, on long-term care, how many of the representations received were critical of the recommendation of the majority report of the Royal Commission on Long-term Care. [116273]

  Mr. Hutton
  A minority of the representations which we have received have preferred an alternative approach from that recommended by the Royal Commission on long-term care.

  Seafood (Technetium)
  Mr. Chaytor
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research he has commissioned on the health implications of very high concentrations of technetium in seafood; and if he will make a statement. [115529]

  Yvette Cooper
  No specific research is currently carried out into the health effect of technetium-99 in seafood as the effects of ingested radioactivity have been studied for many years. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food carries out a comprehensive monitoring programme around the British Isles, which shows the most exposed seafood consumer received only 2 per cent, of the annual dose limit from exposure to technetium-99.

  Perioperative Deaths
  Mr. Waterson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to implement the national confidential inquiry into perioperative deaths; and if he will make a statement. [110434]

  Ms Stuart
  The recommendations of the National Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Deaths (NCEPOD) are primarily for the professions who need to re-evaluate their practice in the light of the evidence found. Other recommendations are concerned with organisational issues and are for local National Health Service management to address. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence is undertaking a review of all four confidential inquiries which will include an assessment of the impact of NCEPOD and the other inquiries.

  NHS Funding
  Mr. Cotter
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to review the system used to assess annual increases in NHS funding. [116011]

  Mr. Andrew Smith
  I have been asked to reply.
  64W
  The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his Budget medium-term plans for the NHS, involving average annual real terms increases of over 6 per cent. for the NHS.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

  Millennium Dome
  Mr. Paterson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the eventual total cost to public funds of the Millennium Dome. [114865]

  Mr. Chris Smith
  The Millennium Experience has a cash-limited budget of £758 million for the Dome at Greenwich and its associated national programme of events and activities. The budget is made up of grant from the Millennium Commission, private sector sponsorship and commercial income. The New Millennium Experience Company aims to stay within that budget. The project is receiving no funds from the Exchequer.

  Mr. Efford
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the most recent attendance figures for the Millennium Dome. [114866]

  Janet Anderson
  The Government are extremely encouraged by the continuing upward trend in visitor numbers to the Millennium Experience at Greenwich—10 million paying visitors will enable the company to deliver a break-even operating budget. NMEC's target remains higher than that but its focus at this stage is achieving 10 million.

  Over 1.25 million people have visited the Dome so far, which is remarkable in itself given that January, February and March are traditionally low season periods for visitor attractions.

  Film Industry
  Mr. Syms
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on the future of the British film industry. [114867]

  Janet Anderson
  Britain's world-class facilities continue to attract very substantial inward investment and we continue to turn out world-class talent, both in front of and behind the camera. But these great strengths are vulnerable without the commercial infrastructure, particularly in terms of film distribution, that would allow the UK film industry to realise the full economic potential of its talent and skills.

  The Government's objective is to create the right conditions for a sustainable UK film industry, through the use of well-targeted tax incentives and the creation of a strategic body, the Film Council, which will provide support in key areas.

  Regional Theatre
  Charlotte Atkins
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what measures he is taking to assist regional theatres in attracting young audiences. [114868]
  65W
  Mr. Alan Howarth
  The Arts Council's Theatre Review will address the ways in which regional theatres can meet the needs of young people. Despite the recent misinformation in the press, classic texts are currently and will continue to be one of the most important ways of meeting the needs of young people.

  Helen Jackson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what advice the Arts Council's theatre review has issued to regional theatres about the use of classic texts. [114872]

  Mr. Beard
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what advice the Arts Council's theatre review has issued to regional theatres about the use of classic texts. [114873]

  Mr. Chris Smith
  The Arts Council's theatre review is about ensuring the best possible access to the best possible theatre across the country. Classic texts are currently, and will continue to be, one of the most important strands of programming by regional theatres and especially popular with young people. Reports in the press suggesting that the ACE wants to downgrade classic theatre, or only favour lasers, acrobats or video technology, have absolutely no foundation in fact.

  Sport Action Zones
  Mr. Campbell-Savours
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what guidance he is issuing about applications for support in sport action zones. [114869]

  Kate Hoey
  Sport action zones are a direct response to the need to address sporting deprivation in some of the most socially and economically deprived areas of the country. Sport England is now discussing with all the local interests the production of a plan for each zone to ensure they meet the needs of the area. Those plans will form the basis of bids for lottery funding.

  Libraries
  Helen Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what guidance he provides to local authorities on the minimum level of service that public libraries should provide to their local communities. [114870]

  Mr. Alan Howarth
  There is currently no defined minimum level of public library service, but all library authorities must meet the requirement of the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 to provide a "comprehensive and efficient" service. In order to assist them, I will be issuing a draft set of public library standards for consultation later in the spring, and will be bringing the final version into force from 1 April 2001.

  Tourism Summit
  Mr. Rapson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on the outcome of the recent tourism summit. [114871]

  Mr. Hoyle
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on the outcome of the recent tourism summit. [114878]
  66W
  Janet Anderson
  I am happy to say that the tourism summit held on 1 March was a great success. For the first time Ministers from a range of Departments whose policies significantly affect tourism were able to engage in close discussion on priorities for joint progress in the year ahead.

  Ministers committed themselves to the fulfilment of the tourism strategy. Collectively, they also made two specific pledges. Most notable of those is the establishment of a cross-departmental network of officials to ensure close working on policies affecting tourism. They will also consider the forthcoming report from the Better Regulation Task Force on the impact of regulation and enforcement on the hotel and restaurant sector and how to improve co-ordination of regulation in this area.

  We will publish a report on the summit.

  School Sports
  Mr. Jim Cunningham
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what contribution the national lottery is making towards encouraging the playing of competitive sporting fixtures in schools. [114875]

  Kate Hoey
  Inter-school competitive fixtures will be an important part of the job description of the School Sports Co-ordinators, a new initiative which is being supported by the Lottery Sports Fund with additional support expected to come from partnership funding, including the new opportunities fund. Detailed proposals for the initiative are being drawn up in conjunction with key partners.

  Green Spaces Initiative
  Caroline Flint
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in what ways he expects children to benefit from the green spaces initiative funded by the new opportunities fund. [114876]

  Mr. Chris Smith
  The new opportunities fund launched the green spaces and sustainable communities initiative in January, and hopes to make its first grants this summer. The initiative covers, among other things, opportunities for children's play, organised and informal sport, playing fields, access to the countryside and creating safer routes to school. These opportunities will greatly benefit the health, happiness, safety and social well-being of children, particularly in areas of multiple deprivation.

  Televised Sport Revenues
  Dr. Whitehead
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps he is taking to encourage professional sport to invest income from the sale of television rights in amateur and youth sport. [114877]

  Kate Hoey
  A number of UK governing bodies have signed the Central Council of Physical Recreation's Voluntary Code, under which a minimum of 5 per cent, of broadcasting income is invested in grass roots development. The resulting arrangements in cricket, tennis and other sports appear to be working well. The football authorities are currently drawing up—in consultation with Sport England and my Department—
  67W
  detailed proposals for using their broadcasting income with the public funds to improve the development of grass roots football in England. An announcement will be made when discussions have been completed.

  Seaside Resorts
  Miss Geraldine Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps his Department is taking to encourage the regeneration of British seaside resorts; and if he will make a statement. [114879]

  Janet Anderson
  I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave earlier today to my hon. Friend the Member for Harwich (Mr. Henderson),Official Report, column 4.

  Lottery Funding
  Mr. Robertson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement about the distribution of lottery grants across the country. [114874]

  Mr. Chris Smith
  The Government are committed to ensuring that Lottery funding is distributed fairly both geographically and across all groups of society. This is reflected in the changes made to lottery distribution through the National Lottery Act 1998, and through the revised policy directions which I issued in summer 1998. My Department and the lottery distributors have jointly commissioned research, due shortly, into why coalfield areas have fared badly from the lottery, which I hope will hold lessons for distribution to other areas of low take-up.

  Mr. Pendry
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list the amounts of moneys(a) distributed to good causes from the National Lottery Fund and (b) which have yet to be allocated. [116489]

  Mr. Chris Smith
  All the funds in the National Lottery Distribution Fund available for distribution have been allocated to the National Lottery Distributing Bodies, and all but £200 million of this money has already been committed by them. While money remains in this fund, it earns tax free interest which goes to the good causes, not Government.

  National Sports Museum
  Mr. Bob Russell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans he has to establish a national sports museum; and if he will make a statement. [113734]

  Kate Hoey
  I refer the hon. Member to my answers of 15 March 2000,Official Report,column 251W.

  Correspondence
  Mr. Winnick
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when the hon. Member for Walsall, North will receive a reply to his letter of 8 February regarding a constituent. [116381]

  Janet Anderson
  I have now replied to my hon. Friend, with an explanation of the reasons for the delay in responding to his correspondence.

  Historic Railway Engines
  Mr. Keetch
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much national lottery funding has been provided to historic railway engine restoration projects since the start of the national lottery; and if he will make a statement. [116100]

  Kate Hoey
  Since the beginning of the national lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund has made 17 awards to historic railway engine restoration projects, and the total value is £2,161,158.

CABINET OFFICE

  Drugs
  Mr. Hurst
  To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what new initiatives the Government are introducing to help vulnerable young people resist drugs. [116649]

  Mr. Ian McCartney
  I am pleased to announce that today my Department was able to help launch Positive Futures, a joint sports and drug prevention initiative designed to engage young people at risk.

  The UK Anti-Drugs Co-ordination Unit in the Cabinet Office, Sport England and the Youth Justice Board have joined together to create the initiative, which will use sporting and drug education activities to divert vulnerable young people away from drug misuse and crime.

  Between the three partners, £950,000 will be invested in 2000–01 to fund 24 projects around the country. By the end of October, all 24 will have begun.

  As we set out in our 10-year anti-drugs strategy "Tackling Drugs to Build a Better Britain", the Government are committed to helping young people resist drug misuse in order to achieve their full potential in society. I believe that this initiative will give hope to young people in areas of deprivation, helping them to build self-esteem and confidence while, at the same time, offering a healthy alternative to involvement in drugs.

  Bank Closures
  Dr. Jack Cunningham
  To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what representations she has made, in her role as interdepartmental co-ordinator of policy on rural affairs, to Barclays Bank plc about their branch closure policy; what reply she has received; and if she will make a statement. [116289]

  Marjorie Mowlam
  I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer that my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary gave on 20 March 2000,Official Report,column 445W.

  Knowledge Network Project
  Mr. Simon Hughes
  To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) if she will list the categories of information which are(a) held and (b) planned to be held on the Knowledge Network Project which are broken down by constituency level; [116290]

  (2) which Ministers, special advisers and civil servants have control of the input of information to the Knowlege Network Project; and if she will make a statement. [116293]
  69W
  Marjorie Mowlam
  I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley) on 24 March 2000,Official Report, column 691W.

  Mr. Simon Hughes
  To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will publish the communications audit of Whitehall departments; and if she will make a statement. [116291]

  Marjorie Mowlam
  The communications audit of Whitehall Departments is part of Phase 1 of the work of the Knowledge Network Project. The results and findings of Phase 1 will be reported to me by July 2000 and will subsequently be made available on the Internet.

  Mr. Simon Hughes
  To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what is the total planned and current cost of the Knowledge Network Project; and if she will make a statement. [116292]
  70W
  Marjorie Mowlam
  The estimated cost of Phase 1 of the Knowledge Network Project is £242,000. Subsequent work, including costs, will be planned following the outcome of Phase 1.

  Euro
  Mr. Portillo
  To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much money has been spent to date by her Office and by bodies funded by her Office in connection with the National Changeover Plan; under what headings this money has been spent; and how much her Office plans to spend on implementing the plan over the next 12 months. [112143]

  Marjorie Mowlam
  I refer the right hon. Gentleman to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury on 29 February 2000,Official Report,column 223W, and to the answer my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave on 9 March 2000, Official Report,column 1181 to my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton, South (Ms Taylor).

  Merrywood School
  Merrywood School
  Cattle Slaughter: Pithing
  Cattle Slaughter: Pithing
  CAP Administration: IT Systems
  CAP Administration: IT Systems
  UK Automobile Industry and the Euro
  UK Automobile Industry and the Euro
  Sudan: Export of Oil-related Equipment
  Sudan: Export of Oil-related Equipment
  UK Bicentenary: Commemorative Postage Stamp
  UK Bicentenary: Commemorative Postage Stamp
  Art Resales: Droit de Suite Terms
  Art Resales: Droit de Suite Terms
  Magistrates from Afro-Caribbean and Asian Ethnic Minorities
  Magistrates from Afro-Caribbean and Asian Ethnic Minorities
  Electoral Commission: Initial Expenses
  Electoral Commission: Initial Expenses
  Crime Fighting: New Funding
  Crime Fighting: New Funding
  Race Equality Performance Indicators
  Race Equality Performance Indicators
  Police Officers: Injuries
  Police Officers: Injuries
  Asylum Applications from Citizens of Council of Europe States
  Asylum Applications from Citizens of Council of Europe States
  Airguns Used in Commission of Offences: Forfeiture
  Airguns Used in Commission of Offences: Forfeiture
  Prison Chaplaincy: Mission Statement
  Prison Chaplaincy: Mission Statement
  Prison Chaplain General
  Prison Chaplain General
  Armed Forces Pensions Scheme: Widows' and Widowers' Pensions
  Armed Forces Pensions Scheme: Widows' and Widowers' Pensions
  Hospices and Palliative Care
  Hospices and Palliative Care
  Domiciliary Oxygen Therapy Services
  Domiciliary Oxygen Therapy Services
  New Variant CJD Cases
  New Variant CJD Cases
  Abnormal Prions in Blood: Tests
  Abnormal Prions in Blood: Tests
  TSE: Transmission
  TSE: Transmission
  Village Halls: VAT Refunds
  Village Halls: VAT Refunds
  Employment Changes 1948–98, by Industry
  Employment Changes 1948–98, by Industry